R E P O R T S University of California Graduate School of Journalism November 2005 Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory June 2005 University of Washington November 2004 Scripps Institution of Oceanography March 2004 University of Rhode Island November 2003 Related articles

The communications challenges facing journalists and scientists in reporting science news to the public are being addressed in a series of national workshops sponsored by the Metcalf Institute and funded by the National Science Foundation. In each of the six workshops, prominent scientists and journalists were invited to discuss the barriers to communicating science, in particular climate change, and ways to effect change in reporting on climate science in the press. Summary reports are available here for each workshop. Now that the workshop series has concluded, Metcalf Institute is currently preparing a summary publication that will describe the challenges facing journalists and scientists in communicating climate change to the public and ways that these challenges might be met. This guide to reporting on climate change will be available in early 2008.

The workshops to date have been held at the University of Rhode Island (November 2003 Report); the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (March 2004 Report); the University of Washington (November 2004 Report); Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (June 2005); and the University of California (November 2005 Report). One additional workshop is being planned for 2006. Each workshop involves a different set of invited journalists and scientists, and participants are provided details from the previous discussions in an effort to avoid "reinventing the wheel."

Additional information on these activities is available at www.environmentwriter.org, the website of Metcalf Institute's Environment Writer newsletter for environmental journalists. Science Communication and the News Media Workshops are supported by NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Paleoclimate Program with other funding from the EPA Office of Atmospheric Programs, NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.