'Happened across a satisfying news surprise this week. It led to several other surprises for me. Thus begins a narrative of discovery that began during 0ne of my near-random walkabout searches for interesting science journalism-related fodder for the tracker. First reward came with this nicely done piece of conventional, meaning professionally thorough, and vivid reporting:
- Scientific American Guest Blog – Sam Khosravifard: Persian Leopards: Large Cats with a Small Chance for Survival; Solid news lede, "In the past 40 days along, seven rare Persian leopards have been killed or injured by poachers, food poisoning, and cars, according to Iranian media reports" followed by recent context – they are among the Sochi Olympics's mascots complete with a Putin photo-op (see OnEarth.org remark by Bill Donahue on Putin's petting a leopard cub, but be wary of the story's assertion that these cats live wild in Russia nowhere near Sochi. Wikipedia says some do linger in that nation's North Caucasus region).
I had no idea there are leopards in Iran. So while this news has them in dire peril, to me it is comforting to know that any such animals at all still maintain breeding populations there. Khosravifard, who includes Iranian media among his source attributions, apparently wrote the piece from somewhere else. The story also cites recent scientific literature, NGOs working in Iran, and government ministries there. He did as well as one might demand, short of being there. The bottom of the post includes a brief bio listing the writer as both a freelance journalist with an interest in Iran's wildlife and as a Dutch university grad student pursuing a PhD in resource management. His writing is slightly on the academic side but fully serviceable for public circulation.
By the way, while this is out of sequence, worth briefly mentioning is that another big, rare cat surprise very much like the Persian leopard story is in the news this week:
- BBC – Navin Singh Khadka: Illegal hunting on the rise in Afghanistan ; What?! Cheetahs in Afghanistan. Yes, some. Fewer all the time, alas. Another cat out of my bag of ignorance. Also there but threatened by illegal hunting, some of it by Arabs using falcons to snare birds, include lynx, ibex, Siberian cranes, and Houbara bustards (the last being, Wiki says, a common target of falconcry). Khadka's story is well-sourced, with a terrific AP pic of Asiatic cheetahs.It concedes that detailed confirmation of wildlife losses in Afghanistan is impossible with a war on. Gov't wildlife agents are few, and don't go to many remote places. But it says here that poaching is well-known and a common public worry – enough to have triggered at least one street demonstration in protest.
Previous glances through Sci Am blogs revealed a lot of fine essays, reflections on scientific method and history, and other inside dope but not much that passes as journalistic news reporting. After reading the Persian leopard yarn at Sci Am a look through other recent postsat Sci Am's blog list turned up a few additional endangered-wildlife stories constructed largely in standard news style, including:
- Extinction Countdown – John R. Platt: New Crocodile Species Discovered in West Africa ; It's a slender-snouted crocodile, and the story has a significant usage flaw. This was neither discovered, nor found "hiding in plain sight." It is a case of lumping v. splitting. What was regarded as one species, its examples widely noticed, looks to be reclassifiable as two. Discovery of new species ought to mean creatures previously unknown to biological systematists under any name. But Platt, a regular in Sci Am's network, uses several sources, provides maps and photos, and interviewed the principle discoverer that some already-known crocodilions need merit their own specific clade. (Here's another by Platt, on Lion Tamarins).
At this point yesterday I decided that tracker readers might like a little perspective on Sci Am's blog network, its size (roughly 40 separate blog categories and 60 regular contributors), and more important its clout. Perhaps there is a metric kept on total page views, readership, and so on.
It didn't take long to get the name of the new person in charge, the one who early last month replaced the network's erstwhile godfather Bora Zivkovic. He, in a sad episode for all concerned, was as most tracker readers know bounced from the job following reports of unacceptably loutish behavior in private conversations, particularly with women who let it be known they were both disturbed and frightened by it. It used to be that such boorishness, when confirmed, cost people their jobs only if they tried it on their bosses, other superiors, or customers and clients. Lately, in one of the few signs that civil society is becoming more civil, even the most productive and broadly talented increasingly does not get a pass for behaving so with anybody, underlings and colleagues included.
The new fellow, as already tipped off in this post's hed, is Curtis Brainard. I'd missed it. Many of this post's readers will have heard by now. He is widely admired for years of toil at the Columbia Journalism Review. Prime achievement was (is still?) his The Observatory column/blog on science journalism and related beats. He has become a frequent source for comment on the state of the craft in the US. I have yesterday and today sent him emails with lots of questions about both the move and about some of the metrics of Sci Am blogs' impacts.
I had expected when starting this post to include part of any reply I get from Curtis. None in yet but I fear I originally used the wrong email address. Just as well to stop here. This post is already long. His reply, I expect, shall merit a separate entry anyway. Watch this space.
In the meantime, Curtis B. has written, dated upon the start of his new job on January 8, "Greetings from the new SA Blogs Editor." He also is doing weekly roundups of what's hot on the network, the latest one here. While I cannot find an original one, apparently and according to NatureNews [correction, per comment below, at Nature Publishing Group, Sci Am's owner] there was a press release on his hiring in which SA editor Mariette DiChristina said, truly, Brainard is a "thoughtful and well-respected member of the science writing community." ;
Congratulations Curtis.
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