About This Lecture

David Ropeik (BSJ72, MSJ73), an instructor at Harvard University and an international consultant in risk communication, spoke about risk at his recent Crain Lecture Series appearance. His talk is titled "The Psychology of Risk: Just why DO all those scary stories make 'good' news?"

About This Speaker

Mr. Ropeik is an Instructor at Harvard University and an international consultant and speaker on risk communication to government, business, consumer groups, and educational institutions. He is a former Instructor of risk communication at the Harvard School of Public Health, and was co-director of the school’s professional education course ‘The Risk Communication Challenge’. He is co-author of RISK, A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Dangerous and What’s Safe in the World Around You. He is creator and director of the program “Improving Media Coverage of Risk”, a training program for journalists. Mr. Ropeik was a television reporter for WCVB-TV in Boston from 1978 - 2000. He specialized in reporting on environment and science issues. He twice won the DuPont-Columbia Award, (often cited as the television equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and seven regional EMMY awards. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT 1994-95, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists from 1991-2000. He has taught journalism at Boston University, Tufts University, and MIT.