J. Richard Stevens

Local Science Reporting Relies on Generalists, Not Specialists

This study surveys Colorado reporters to examine the state of local science and environmental journalism. Despite budget cuts and the loss of specialist reporters, local news outlets continue to cover science and the environment with generalists.

Teaching Millennials to engage THE environment instead of THEIR environment: A pedagogical analysis

ABSTract This article examines the difficulty in teaching contemporary students of journalism (those in the much-discussed Millennial Generation) to report on complex topics like science and the environment. After examining contemporary literature, the authors subjected 120 undergraduate students to a strategy that combined visual representations of abstract concepts, media texts, and experiential peer interactions. The results indicate positive outcomes on comprehension and demonstrations of critical analysis from this pedagogical approach.

Scandal’s Role in Creating a Surveillance Culture

The basis of the first legal tort for privacy appeared in an 1890 issue of the Harvard Law Review. That article addressed the rising moral panic surrounding the use of snap cameras that allowed the middle and lower classes to circulate and publish photographs of elites without permission. This chapter explores the scandal that birthed American privacy law (the individual’s “right to be left alone”), documenting how advances in technology continually disrupt the control elites possess over both the publicity activities that create fame and the unwanted attention to private facts that creates scandal.