Matthew C. Nisbet
Associate Professor of Communication, Northeastern University
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. Nisbet studies the role of communication and advocacy in policymaking and public affairs, focusing on debates over over climate change, energy, and sustainability. Among awards and recognition, Nisbet has been a Visiting Shorenstein Fellow on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, a Health Policy Investigator at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a Google Science Communication Fellow. In 2011, the editors at the journal Nature recommended Nisbet's research as “essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in the climate change debate,” and the New Republic highlighted his work as a “fascinating dissection of the shortcomings of climate activism."
I’ve long questioned the value of anonymous blogging or commenting. Much of the incivility online can be attributed to anonymity. And with a rare few exceptions, if you can’t participate […]
In my remarks as part of a panel at Harvard last week, I predicted that a new public accountability narrative about climate scientists had been locked in by the “ClimateGate” […]
UPDATE: Due to the weather, the Forum is postponed until the end of February or early March. When a date is finalized, I will post details.Tuesday night at 7pm, American […]
Below are text of the remarks that I opened with at the Harvard panel last week on “The Public Divide over Climate Change: Science, Skeptics and the Media.” To listen […]
On Thursday, at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, I served as one of the panelists at the event “The Public Divide over Climate Change: Science, Skeptics and the […]
A reminder for readers in Boston and Cambridge: Thursday this week I will be a panelist on a discussion about climate change and the media at the Kennedy School of […]
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Obama called for significant government investment in nuclear energy, telling Congress that “to create more of these clean energy jobs, […]
Much calamity has been made in popular books and by liberal commentators about the public’s scores on quiz like survey questions tapping basic knowledge of scientific facts or the public’s […]
Two surveys released this week provide more information on how public opinion may or may not be shifting relative to climate change and energy. I provide some highlights and quick […]
In the two days leading up to their annual conference in San Diego later this month, AAAS will be sponsoring a two-day workshop on improving climate change literacy through informal […]
Nature magazine ran an editorial last week arguing the need for new directions in climate change communication, reflecting directly many of the themes shared at this blog and in past […]
For readers at Harvard, I will be participating in a panel discussion at the Kennedy School of Government on Thurs. Feb. 4 from noon to 2pm. Details are below and […]
Last week the NSF Science Indicators report was released, triggering more dramatic calls to action and overstated warnings from commentators about the alleged decline of science in American society. This […]
The Katzen Arts Center on the American University campus will be host to a discussion of the civic and personal challenges that college students face on climate change.Here’s a head […]
After nearly 8 years as founding editor of The Scientist magazine, Richard Gallagher is stepping down to pursue new journalistic ventures. Gallagher helmed The Scientist as it grew into one […]
A recent article at the journal Science Communicationreports on an innovative EU program that trained scientists in public engagement and science-society relations. Along with the Leopold Leadership Program, it is […]
CORRECTION: The Indicators Report will be released Friday, Jan. 15.The bi-annual NSF Science Indicators report will be released on Wednesday. Chapter 7 of the report will contain a useful synthesis […]
Last month, I did an interview with the Philadelphia City Paper on the stolen CRU emails. The feature story provides useful background and context on the communication dynamics of the […]
The American University news media relations office is running a Web feature that focuses on many of the themes discussed at this blog. The feature is in the form of […]
Slides and synchronized video of the presentations from the AGU panel “Re-Starting the Conversation on Climate Change: The Media, Dialogue, and Public Engagement Workshop” are now online. Below I link […]
Overlooked in the coverage and discussion of Copenhagen are the remarks of Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who in his speech at the summit emphasized that the real future of policy […]
Roughly 90 scientists, journalists, educators, PIOs, and policy staffers turned out to Sunday afternoon’s AGU workshop on climate change communication. I will have more to say about the panel in […]
From the Associated Press to the Guardian to Reuters to Agence France Presse,protesters and journalists create a confusing storyline focused on chaos, conflict, and law and orderIt’s too early to […]
One of the arguments I have been making in talking to journalists is to beware the hype over the relative impact of the climate skeptics movement in contributing to societal […]
Audio of yesterday’s discussion at WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show on science, religion, and the climate debate is now available online. I wish we had more time to focus in depth […]
Tomorrow at 130pm, I will be a guest on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show to discuss the communication challenge on climate change and strategies for overcoming political polarization.Also as guests from […]
On Copenhagen, not surprisingly, ideologically driven media outlets are working overtime to brand themselves and appeal to their respective audiences. Not only do we have the expected conservative commentary and […]
Over at the Columbia Journalism Review, Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell file their first overview and analysis of Copenhagen coverage. Their daily round up of mostly mainstream news reporting promises […]
ClimateGate: A now ubiquitous tagline that conveys a preferred storyline.In a paper published earlier this year at the journal Environment, I explained how claims and arguments relative to the climate […]