From frog fungus to smashed dams; Maine science journalism and the (messed-up) food chain of news
Maine-based journalist and author Murray Carpenter kicks off the Spring 2017 Mitchell Center Seminar series on January 23…
Maine-based journalist and author Murray Carpenter has long been drawn to environmental and science stories and, in particular, those about fisheries and amphibians.
Among other topics, the Belfast resident and freelance writer will tell some fish and frog tales in his Monday, January 23 Mitchell Center Seminar talk titled “From frog fungus to smashed dams; Maine science journalism and the (messed-up) food chain of news.” The talk will be at 3 p.m. in 107 Norman Smith Hall.
Carpenter frequently writes for the New York Times and has covered stories about the chytrid frog fungus and revived fish passage in the wake of the Penobscot River Restoration Project—both stories involving researchers from UMaine.
Says Carpenter, “I wanted to talk about these two stories in particular—the chytrid fungus in frogs and the work of UMaine associate research professor Joyce Longcore, and the Penobscot story, which is another big story but one that’s been going on incrementally for years and has involved many UMaine researchers.” The latter includes Gayle and Joe Zydlewski of the UMaine School of Marine Sciences and Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, respectively, and Michael Kinnison of the School of Biology and Ecology.
Carpenter first encountered the chytrid fungus story and the work of Longcore of the School of Biology and Ecology upon reading an article in Science in the spring of 1999.
“There on page three was this UMaine researcher so I visited her that summer and did a story for the Maine Times and, in that process, found out she was the world’s expert on this fungus and had originally identified it,” says Carpenter. He adds, “What’s more, she had the world’s largest collection of the fungus in a freezer in Deering Hall on the Orono campus and nobody knew about it. I was very intrigued by her and her work and her story.”
Eventually, Carpenter’s fascination with Longcore’s research led to a feature story in the New York Times.
Carpenter has been reporting on migratory fish runs in Maine and the Penobscot River since 1997 when he did a story for the Maine Times. So, he says, “I’ve had the luxury to drop in on this story for nearly two decades now and it’s been interesting to me to see how dramatically it’s changed over that time. Today, I think we sort of take it for granted that we have these two major dams removed and a major state-of-the-art fish passage on the next dam up and a bypass on an upstream dam, all of which seemed utterly improbable in 1997.”
Carpenter adds that UMaine research has been a big part of that big national story and that UMaine researchers “have really helped provide a baseline of understanding about what’s going on in the river.”
And when Carpenter is hunting for a good story, what does he tend to look for—besides fish and frogs? “Like anyone else, something that’s counterintuitive or makes you reconsider a common assumption,” he says.
For example, he recalls encountering a report—led by a UMaine doctoral candidate—about clearcutting in Maine woods that led to a population increase in snowshoe hares and a subsequent rebound in Canadian lynx.
“I think most anyone with an interest in the environment would associate ‘clear-cut’ with ‘bad’ but this is one of those counterintuitive stories that I think is so interesting—it’s a story that makes you think a little differently about something. These are the types of stories I like.”
As for the “messed up” food chain of news Carpenter alludes to, he explains that has to do with how stories often percolate up from small community papers to dailies, to television shows, and sometimes become national stories. “It’s an interesting process that shows the impact a small local story can have,” he says.
“But it’s also messed up in some ways,” he adds. “The process of science becoming news can be somewhat random, and not all good science makes good news for a general audience. But a local story that does not deserve broad attention can become popular, at which point larger media outlets feel compelled to advance the story.”
For more about Carpenter and to read some of his stories in the New York Times and on National Public Radio and in other publications, visit http://www.murraycarpenter.com.
By David Sims, Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions