The decline of environmental journalism

I've written before about the death of newspapers. And as Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum describe in their recent book, Unscientific America, science and environmental journalism seems to be suffering disproportionately. Here's more evidence that Chris and Sheril are right, from the Columbia Journalism Review:

For the first time since it was created fourteen years ago, Columbia University's highly regarded dual-degree graduate program in environmental journalism will not be accepting applications for next academic year.

In a letter to faculty at the Graduate School of Journalism, the Department of Environmental Sciences, and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the program directors cited falling employment in the field, the rising costs of education, and a lack of financial aid for students as the reasons for their decision.

At a time when the environmental challenges we face are enormous and when the need for good environmental reporting is greater than ever, it is very sad to learn that environmental journalism will no longer be available as a specialty in one of our leading schools of journalism.