CNN Lays Off 7 Staffers, Own Credibility

CNN has announced it's laying off its entire science and technology staff, eliminating seven positions. The staffers cut include Miles O'Brien, a pioneer in aggressive broadcast climate change reporting, and widely respected producer Peter Dykstra.

As the Columbia Journalism Review's Curtis Brainard writes, "the decision to eliminate the positions seems particularly misguided at a time when world events would seem to warrant expanding science and environmental staff."

The cuts are part of a broader trend in the news business -- cutting science reporting positions just as we reach a critical time in our relationship with the environment.

We're lucky we have websites and blogs to help fill the void. ClimateProgress.org, Grist.org, The Wonk Room and many others provide more comprehensive coverage than you could get from any broadcast news source.

But do those outlets have the resources to send staffers around the country and around the world to provide in-depth coverage? Unfortunately, no. Only the heavy hitters like CNN can do that. And while the network says it remains committed to its Planet in Peril series, the occasional special is no subsitute for continuing coverage.

Planet in Peril & Heroes of Our Planet

A quick heads up on two upcoming events:

From the Bottom Up
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Grosvenor Auditorium, National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
Member: $15/Non-Member: $18

In the summer of 1997, a college student from East Moline, Illinois, CHAD PREGRACKE, set himself a quixotic goal: to clean up the garbage-infested banks of the Mississippi near his hometown. He started simply, by pushing a wheelbarrow along the riverbank and picking up garbage as he went. Before the summer was over, Chad's quest had caught the attention first of
local media, and later the Associated Press and CNN, and the self-described "river rat" became an unlikely hero, leveraging his newfound celebrity into corporate support for his cause and branching out across America. Now the author of a new National Geographic book, From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers, Pregracke will share his inspiring mission to clean up our waterways.

For more details on this and future events, check out National Geographic's Heroes of Our Planet page!

Also, CNN's Planet in Peril special debuts tonight (Tuesday October 23rd) at 9pm eastern. If you can't catch it tonight, it will rerun tomorrow night at the same time.

Let me know if you catch either of these events! I'm always happy to post your reviews here.