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Michael Balter

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Michael Balter is an American science journalist. His writings primarily cover anthropology, archaeology, mental health and sexual harassment in science.[1][2]

Balter was a correspondent for Science magazine for over 25 years,[3] before being controversially dismissed in 2016.[4][5] He has also written for Scientific American,[6] Audubon,[7] The Verge,[2] LA Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, and Los Angeles magazine,[8] and taught journalism at New York University, Boston University and City College of New York.[9]

Education and early career

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Born on the Alaskan Aleutian Islands, Balter grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and San Jose State University.[8] He obtained his master's degree in biology from UCLA in 1977.[8] As a student, Balter was involved in far-left politics and especially the movement opposing the Vietnam War.[8][10] He was conscripted into the US Army and stationed at Fort Ord, where he and other members of the radical Progressive Labor Party, which aimed to "subvert and destroy [the military] from within", attempted to organize resistance to the war amongst soldiers.[10] He was court-martialed twice, once for distributing anti-war literature,[10] and once for disrupting a training exercise.[10][11]

Balter began his journalism career writing for newspapers based in Los Angeles, including LA Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, and Los Angeles magazine.[8] In the 1990s he relocated to Paris, where he was a foreign correspondent for several American newspapers and magazines, and began writing for Science magazine.[8]

Science journalism

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Balter's 2006 book The Goddess and the Bull describes the Neolithic archaeological site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey and the major excavations that have taken place their since the 1960s.[12] It received positive reviews in both popular magazines[12][13] and academic journals.[14][15][16]

Science magazine

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Balter wrote for Science for over 25 years,[4] primarily covering anthropology and archaeology.[8] He was the chief of its Paris bureau between 1993 and 2002.[8] His contract with Science was terminated in 2016, shortly after he wrote a piece about allegations of sexual misconduct against American anthropologist Brian Richmond.[4][5] Balter claimed that his dismissal was in reaction to this piece,[4][5] which was the subject of what he described as a "tense, sometimes bruising behind-the-scenes conflict with [Science's] editors".[17] He also highlighted previous conflicts with the magazine, including a leave of absence he took in protest of its firing of four women, and a blog post he wrote that was critical of Marcia McNutt, its then editor-in-chief.[5] The American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science, denied that the Richmond piece was a factor in its decision to terminate Balter's freelance contract with the magazine.[4][5][18]

Reports on sexual harassment

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Since leaving Science, Balter has worked as a freelance journalist.[19] He writes about sexual harassment and the Me Too movement in science, often self-publishing these stories on his blog.[19] He has also written for Scientific American,[6] Audubon, and The Verge.[2][8]

In 2019, he wrote about allegations of misconduct by French paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin, leading to a boycott of the annual conference of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution, of which Hublin is the president.[20] In 2020, he was sued for defamation by UC Santa Barbara anthropologist Danielle Kurin, after Balter reported allegations of sexual harassment against her and her partner, Enmanuel Gomez Choque.[9]

Balter was ejected from the 2019 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) after he attempted to remove David Yesner, a former archaeology professor who had been dismissed from the University of Alaska Anchorage for "decades of sexual misconduct",[21] from the conference venue.[22][23][24] Balter had traveled to the meeting to appear on a panel on the Me Too movement in archaeology.[22][23] The SAA was strongly criticized for its handling of the incident.[25][26]

Resignation from the National Association of Science Writers

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Balter resigned from the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) in April 2021, following a misconduct complaint submitted against him by eleven other members of the organization. He had been a member of the NASW since 1986. Following his resignation, he claimed that the due process of the NASW's investigation had been compromised and denied the misconduct charges against him.[27][28][third-party source needed]

Selected publications

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  • Balter, Michael (2005). The Goddess and the Bull: Çatalhöyük – An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization. New York, NY: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-4360-5.

References

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  1. ^ "Articles by Michael Balter". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  2. ^ a b c "Michael Balter Archives". SAPIENS. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  3. ^ "Michael Balter". Science. 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  4. ^ a b c d e Feltman, Rachel (March 11, 2016). "Science Magazine ends contract of the reporter behind major probe of sexual assault". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Science Mag axes Michael Balter after 25 years, Denies it was over Sexual Misconduct story". iMediaEthics. 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  6. ^ a b "Stories by Michael Balter". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  7. ^ "Michael Balter". Audubon. 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i "About the Author". MichaelBalter.com. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  9. ^ a b Swartz, Katherine; Abrams, Max (July 11, 2020). "UCSB Asst. Professor Sues Journalist for Defamation Over Reportings About Title IX Violations". The Daily Nexus.
  10. ^ a b c d Balter, Michael (2019-02-25). "What I Did in the War". Medium. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  11. ^ Investigation of Attempts to Subvert the United States Armed Services: Hearings before the Committee on Internal Security House of Representatives. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. 1972. pp. 7219–7231.
  12. ^ a b "Goddess & the Bull: Catalhoyuk". Current World Archaeology. No. 9. January 4, 2005.
  13. ^ Saunders, Nicholas (January 12, 2005). "The Goddess and the Bull, Catalhoyuk by Michael Balter". New Scientist.
  14. ^ Marciniak, Arkadiusz (2008). "Michael Balter, The Goddess and the Bull. Çatalhöyük – An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization". European Journal of Archaeology. 11 (2–3): 279–281. doi:10.1179/eja.2008.11.2-3.279. ISSN 1461-9571. S2CID 161398651.
  15. ^ Schulting, Rick (2007). "Review of The Goddess and the Bull; Çatalhöyük: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilization". Canadian Journal of Archaeology. 31 (2): 280–283. ISSN 0705-2006. JSTOR 41103311.
  16. ^ Fairbairn, Andrew S. (2007). "Review of 'The Goddess and the Bull: Catalhoyuk: An Archaeological Journey to the Dawn of Civilisation' by Michael Balter". Australian Archaeology. pp. 54–56. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
  17. ^ Balter, Michael (2016-03-11). "Balter's Blog: Why did @sciencemagazine terminate me after 25 years of service?". Balter's Blog. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  18. ^ "AAAS Statement on Michael Balter". American Association for the Advancement of Science. March 11, 2016. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  19. ^ a b Balter, Michael (September 4, 2019). "I now publish #MeToo stories on my blog, for free. Here's why". Columbia Journalism Review.
  20. ^ Williams, Shawna (August 30, 2019). "Scholars Boycott Meeting, Citing Misconduct Accusations". The Scientist.
  21. ^ "Title IX investigation reveals decades of sexual misconduct by former UAA professor". KTVA. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  22. ^ a b Flaherty, Colleen (April 15, 2019). "Archaeology group faces backlash over how it handled known harasser's attendance at meeting". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  23. ^ a b Grens, Kerry (April 12, 2019). "An Archaeology Meeting Finds Itself in the Middle of #MeTooSTEM". The Scientist. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  24. ^ Wade, Lizzie (April 19, 2019). "#MeToo controversy erupts at archaeology meeting". Science. 364 (6437): 219–220. Bibcode:2019Sci...364..219W. doi:10.1126/science.364.6437.219. PMID 31000641. S2CID 122541727.
  25. ^ Flaherty, Colleen (August 8, 2019). "Archaeology society continues to anger members with how it responds to negative feedback". Inside Higher Ed.
  26. ^ Bishara, Hakim (April 16, 2019). "2,000 Archaeologists and Scholars Ask Society for American Archaeology to Review Sexual Harassment Policy [UPDATED]". Hyperallergic.
  27. ^ "The (Mis)Adventures of a #MeToo Reporter -- Part One: The reporter, falsely accused, resigns from his professional organization". Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  28. ^ "The (Mis)Adventures of a #MeToo Reporter -- Part Two: Answering Kate Clancy's false and distorted allegations. [Updated Oct 30, 2021]". Retrieved 2022-06-11.
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