Puneet Sandhu

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Sendova, Mariana

Keywords

Deepwater Horizon, Dispersants, Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527, Science Journalism, The New York Times

Area of Concentration

Natural Sciences

Abstract

In 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the largest offshore oil spill in the United States. As part of the oil spill response, chemical dispersants were applied in unprecedented volumes, and for the first time, applied subsea. The dispersant applications generated much public debate and media coverage. The present study examines how well a major news outlet, The New York Times (NYT), explained the science of dispersants in covering the Deepwater Horizon response. Overall, the newspaper presented insufficient information about the benefits and risks of dispersant use. Many of the flaws in NYT coverage demonstrate undesirable trends in science journalism among general-audience newspapers. Yet as public access to scientific studies is limited, science journalism in the mainstream media must improve to better inform the public about science and science policy.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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