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."
As I’ve argued at this blog many times and in our article at Science, defining evolution in terms of medical progress is probably the best way to translate its’ importance […]
Big Tobacco.Big Oil.Big Pharma.Big Biotech.Big Nanotech?Each of these phrases are examples of frame devices, words that act like triggers in activating underlying cultural meanings. In fact, these frame devices instantly […]
Pew has released an analysis of the most frequently used words at the most popular sections of the presidential candidate Web sites, their candidate biographies. The findings are somewhat surprising, […]
Last week, analysts at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty released a 70 page analysis of the strategies, tactics, and messages of the Sunni insurgent propaganda campaign. It’s the most interesting thing […]
As I’ve argued, one of the reasons I find the New Atheist PR campaign so troubling is that it is has radicalized a movement that feeds on anger and fear […]
As part of their conversation series with scientists, the NY Times this week runs an interview with Harvard’s Eric Mazur featuring the headline “Using the ‘Beauties of Physics’ to Conquer […]
The Sunday Washington Post leads with a story that greenhouse gas mitigation proposals in Congress are likely to stall, in part because several key lawmakers believe (or at least claim) […]
The Center for American Progress has released a valuable analysis of the factors that account for the huge ideological imbalance in political talk radio. Here’s what they pinpoint as the […]
Pew has released a survey analysis comparing American Muslims to other American religious groups, comparing levels of religious intensity, political identification, and policy preferences. I summarize and quote from some […]
In an essay at the Web site of Skeptic magazine, David Sloan Wilson, author of Darwin’s Cathedral, concludes that when it comes to a scientific understanding of religion, Dawkins is […]
Across the Atlantic, it’s a parallel universe when it comes to a focus on framing and its political uses. While here in the States, liberals have decried the use of […]
Chris Mooney’s Storm World is reviewed in Sunday’s edition of the NY Times, a major moment for any author since the attention will surely give a major boost to the […]
I’m obviously a bit late in commenting on the scientist-journalist debate that went on through last week, so I’m not going to weigh in at this point. (Round up of […]
To date, nanotechnology has followed a public trajectory similar to that of plant biotechnology in the United States. Relatively low levels of attention have been paid to the still nascent […]
One of the common claims that has been amplified by the Dawkins/Hitchens PR campaign is that “atheism is a civil rights issue.” (For an example, see the comments section of […]
In 2004, when California voters approved a $3 billion dollar funding program for embryonic stem cell research, all eyes turned to the Golden State as the new national center for […]
In new survey released by Pew, Americans see few ideological differences among the three broadcast TV news networks, but among regular viewers of cable TV news, content differences are readily […]
The news frenzy over Andrew Speaker, the honeymooning lawyer with a rare strain of anti-biotic resistant TB, did little to shape public views on the disease as a global health […]
Over at the Intersection, Chris generated a discussion of what issues might be the next big science policy debates. I’d like to turn the question in a slightly different direction […]
On June 4, more than 120 people turned out for the Nisbet & Mooney Speaking Science 2.0 talk at the New York Academy of Sciences. The talk is now part […]
The Barna Group maintains some of the best data tracking the consumer and opinion market for religious Americans, especially among Evangelicals. Though not an independent survey organization like Pew, over […]
How do you engage the Republican base on global warming, connecting the issue to their core values and interests? For one part of this segment, as I have argued, you […]
“I think one movie can make a difference; I do believe that,” says director Michael Moore. Indeed, speculation over the impact of his new documentary SICKO was the subject of […]
Something to think about…Kyoto was strategically framed by conservatives as an unfair economic burden on the U.S. , deflating public support across polls. Yet according to Gallup trends and other […]
Today I received the latest issue of Dartmouth Alumni magazine to discover inside an interesting poll of graduating seniors at my alma mater. Long branded a conservative campus–with notable right […]
First John McCain was against embryonic stem cell research, now he’s for it.First Mitt Romney was for embryonic stem cell research, now he’s against it.If either of these GOP candidates […]
With action on Iraq and major domestic initiatives such as immigration stalled, Congressional Dems have lost the sense of approval and optimism that greeted them in January. The gap in […]
In our last major talk of the summer here in DC, on Tues. June 19 we will be delivering our Speaking Science 2.0 presentation at the Center for American Progress. […]
Previously, I’ve noted the major hole that the IPCC digs itself by releasing its consensus reports on Fridays, only to be lost in the weekend news cycle. Back in February, […]
Yesterday, stem cell researcher John Gearhart, Washington Post reporter Rick Weiss, and physician William Hurlburt appeared on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show to discuss the latest in the stem cell debate. […]