TY - JOUR T1 - Improving green INK JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 84A LP - 84A VL - 59 IS - 5 AU - JoAnn M. Valenti Y1 - 2004/09/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/59/5/84A.abstract N2 - A recent study by the Pew Research Center raises red flags over media coverage and the state of the journalist—scientist relationship. The Pew study of 547 national and local print, online, and broadcast journalists concludes that the quality of news overall is “thinner and shallower” with little attention to complex stories. Not being an optimist by nature—or from my own journalism and science training—I find it ironic that some colleagues are so willing to take the anecdotal rather than scientific approach, and reflect such pessimism in their analyses. I've studied and written about the scientist—journalist interaction for some time. I'm convinced things are not so bad. In spite of worsening conditions in the media overall, journalists who cover the environment are a hardy bunch. David Sachsman of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, James Simon of Fairfield University in Connecticut, and I are involved in a national survey of environment reporters. Interviews in four regions—New England, the Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and the … ER -