PULLMAN, Wash. — Journalist Paul Roberts, who is noted for his work on natural resource topics, will present a public lecture at Washington State University on Tuesday, March 24. In his lecture, titled “The Science of Reporting on Science,” Roberts will examine the growing need for solid science writing, look at the weaknesses of current journalistic approaches and suggest a new model drawn, in part, from the scientific method. The lecture is scheduled in Todd Hall, Room 276, 7 p.m.
Roberts’ commentaries on national issues have appeared in many publications. His article, “The Federal Chainsaw Massacre,” an in-depth review of the controversial federal timber program, was the cover story for the June 1997 issue of Harper’s Magazine.
He has also commented on the debate over how environmental science is taught in schools and looked at how all sides in the environmental debate sometimes ‘bend’ science to advance their own case.
In other articles, Roberts chronicled the rise and fall of the 1996 deregulatory campaign in Congress and examined management and infrastructure issues in the high-tech industry. In addition to Harper’s, his articles have appeared in Newsweek, Psychology Today, The New Republic, The (London) Independent, Utne Reader and in Web magazines MSNBC, Amazon and Outside Online.
Roberts is a 1983 graduate of the School of Communications at the University of Washington and is a former writer for the Seattle Weekly and the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina. He lives in western Washington.
The Science Communication Lecture is presented by the College of Sciences and the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at WSU.
skh148-98
