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."
This spring in the sophomore-level course I teach on “Communication and Society,” we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter […]
This semester in the sophomore-level course I teach on “Communication and Society,” we spent several weeks examining the many ways that individuals and groups are using the internet to alter […]
The Point of Inquiry podcast is produced by the Center for Inquiry-Transnational and averages 60,000 listeners a week. In this week’s show, host DJ Grothe and I engage in a […]
If anyone should understand how to effectively communicate with the broader public about teaching evolution in schools, it’s Dr. Steve Case. He’s assistant director of the Center for Science Education […]
A small yet very vocal contingent of critics continue to ferociously attack our Framing Science thesis. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left wondering why. Here are two observations posted […]
The transcript of the interview I did last week at NPR’s On the Media is now available. In the interview, I restate exactly what we argued first at Science and […]
To be honest, I hadn’t seen the online program Bloggingheads.tv before. But today they offer a pretty substantive discussion of our Framing Science thesis. Apparently the host agrees with us. […]
NPR’s Richard Harris reports on the UN National Security Council’s attempt to recast global warming as really a matter of national and global security. Trinifar has all the details and […]
The Discovery Institute have a blog post up commenting on our WPost Outlook article. Given this latest response to our Framing Science thesis, I wanted to take time out from […]
Bora continues to play a very important role in synthesizing and interpreting the whole strange chorus that seems to be going on in reaction to our Framing Science thesis. In […]
Over at Chris Mooney’s Intersection, there is a lively discussion going-on of our Washington Post article. I thought this comment was especially interesting, from scientist-turned-filmmaker Randy Olson, director of Flock […]
In an article in the Sunday Outlook section of the Washington Post, we advance the arguments offered in our Science Policy Forum commentary. We also respond directly to some of […]
It’s definitely been a busy week trying to keep up with a seismic blog debate. I’ve tried to weigh in where I can and so has Chris Mooney. However, in […]
How do you play on the fragmented media system and the miserly nature of the public to persuade Americans to oppose major policy action on climate change? Conservative columnist George […]
Over at the blog Nanopublic, Dietram Scheufele, a professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin, has posted a very useful discussion of our Science Policy forum article.Scheufele, one of […]
How difficult is it for a well known political figure to break through the perceptual screens of partisanship, along with the ingrained frames of reference that citizens have developed over […]
Back in February, I chronicled the problems that the year’s first IPCC report had in achieving wider media and public attention. In response, I argued that in today’s fragmented media […]
AAAS has provided me with an author’s referral link that offers free access to our Policy Forum article. You can find the link in the left sidebar, just under the […]
Our Policy Forum article at Science has generated a monster blog discussion, one that is almost too much to keep up with. I continue to try to keep a summary […]
I have a Policy Forum article appearing this week in the journal Science that is likely to spark a major debate. Co-authored with Chris Mooney and titled “Framing Science,” the […]
Over at The Intersection, Chris Mooney has a post up about the complete absence of U.S. news coverage dedicated to the record six tropical cyclones that have hit Madagascar, killing […]
Everywhere you look, polarized views from the tail ends of the bell curve of opinion on climate change are being picked up by the media. Indeed, only at a few […]
In his response to the Supreme Court ruling, President Bush framed any policy action in familiar terms, emphasizing the “unfair economic burden” placed on the U.S. by any “cap and […]
Back in February, I described how the first release of the IPCC was a massive communication failure, never really landing on the wider media or public agenda. In a column […]
Despite the ever growing scientific consensus about the nature and urgency of global warming, Americans remain more divided politically on the matter than at anytime in history. The reason is […]
On April 24, investigative reporter Brooks Jackson and UPenn professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson are set to release a new book that is sure to be of interest to Framing Science […]
The Free University Berlin has an associate professor opening in Science Communication, as part of their Department of Political and Social Sciences and their Institute of Media and Communication Studies. […]
At the NY Times, Michael Crichton reviews Jerome Groopman’s new book, a compilation of his medical essays from the New Yorker. Crichton’s review is worth reading, and two themes familiar […]
Florida and Ohio State face off tonight in the Men’s NCAA basketball championship, a re-match of January’s national title game in football. Both schools feature the best athletics programs that […]
My focus on the striking partisan differences in perceptions about the urgency and science of global warming has generated serious buzz at the NY Daily News, the Huffington Post, and […]