Knight Center researcher among AEJMC Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellows

Iasmim Amiden dos Santos

Doctoral student and Knight Center research assistant Iasmim Amiden dos Santos was selected as one of this year’s Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellows. Organized by the Mass Communication & Society Division, the program supports graduate students from historically underrepresented groups in the U.S. as they prepare for academic and professional careers in communication fields.

Amiden dos Santos, from Brazil, researches environmental journalism practices, the roles of journalists, and discourses surrounding environmental issues and Indigenous peoples in Latin America. “I see this fellowship as a chance to strengthen my path while supporting more equitable representation in academia and media,” said Amiden dos Santos. Continue reading →

Knight Center Researchers Share Work at International Conference

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Three Knight Center for Environmental Journalism researchers presented their work at the Conference on Communication and the Environment, held June 23–27, 2025, at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia.

Research Director Bruno Takahashi presented the ongoing project, “The Discursive (De)construction of Oil Spills: A Case Study of Mediaciones in the Peruvian Amazon.” The project, in collaboration with doctoral student Iasmim Amiden dos Santos, combines in-depth interviews with journalists, Indigenous communicators and community members, with participant observation and media content analysis, to unpack how oil spills are framed and contested.

Bruno Takahashi during the discussion of his study

Takahashi also joined the panel “Publishing Environmental Communication: From Aggravations to Aspirations,” sharing insights from his experience as an editor and highlighting ways to make academic publishing more accessible to researchers in the Global South.

Amiden dos Santos also showcased her study, “Ecofeminist and Ecocentric Discourses in Brazilian Independent Media Coverage of the Pantanal and Cerrado.” Her discourse analysis revealed how two independent news outlets in Brazil broke from conventional journalism norms to center marginalized voices, reflecting ecofeminist, anti-capitalist and decolonial perspectives.

Iasmim Amiden dos Santos presenting virtually her study

First-year MA student Julia Belden presented “A Killer Whale Tale: An Analysis of The Miami Herald’s Coverage of the Orca Tokitae from 1970 to 2023.” Her work traced how the newspaper’s coverage shifted over five decades—from entertainment and spectacle to animal welfare, business, and conflict—capturing evolving public attitudes toward a single, iconic animal.

Julia Belden presenting her study

Belden also participated in the conference’s pre- and post-events. The pre-conference brought together graduate students from around the world to share experiences and learn about academic scholarship from senior researchers. The post-conference was a Deep Ecology workshop that invited participants to deepen their connection with nature through guided reflection and immersive activities.

These presentations and activities highlight the Knight Center’s expanding role in global conversations on environmental journalism and its commitment to fostering research with international reach and impact.

Knight Center director explores the fiery passion of scientists searching for new species

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A new article by Knight Center director Eric Freedman profiles four scientists – Finders, he calls them – who have discovered or, in one case, rediscovered, plant and animal species.

Last year, Grant Fessler discovered a population of pink lady’s slippers in Illinois. The flower hadn’t been reported in the state since 1999. Photo by Grant Fessler.

His article in the summer issue of the environmental magazine Earth Island Journal explores the experiences of Lohit Garikipati of the American Museum of Natural History’s Richard Gilder Graduate School who discovered the Sonoran tiger mantis in Arizona, Natalia Garcia of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who identified two new bird species in Brazil, Rob Gandola of the Herpetological Society of Ireland who discovered the Mahamavo skink in Madagascar and Grant Fessler of the Chicago Botanic Garden who rediscovered the pink lady’s slipper in Illinois.

Rob Gandola (with a helmeted iguana) helped discover a new species of skink in Madagascar in 2011. Last year, he found a species of newt in Ireland that hadn’t yet been recorded there. Photo courtesy of Rob Gandola.

Freedman’s interest in Finders was spurred by his late great-uncle, Aaron Nadler, who was a citizen-scientist decades before that term was coined. He drew a comfortable income in the financial world but his true love was collecting insects, whether overseas or on his in Brooklyn, New York, where he lived most of his life.

Decreasing numbers of Gunnison’s prairie dogs in Arizona due to the plague

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This is the 6th in a series of articles about reporting skills by Knight Center students who attended the 2025 Society of Environmental Journalists conference.

Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

Emily Renn is showing her plush prairie dogs to journalists at the SEJ conference in Arizona. Credit: Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

Standing at around 16 inches tall, the native North American rodent has been subject to significant population declines since the early 1900s.

At the Society of Environmental Journalists recent annual conference in Arizona, journalists were taught about the fluctuating numbers of prairie dogs, especially Gunnison’s prairie dogs.

Emily Renn is showing her plush prairie dogs to journalists at the SEJ conference in Arizona. Credit: Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

There are many reasons for the decline in the number of prairie dogs, like hunting, but one factor stands out from the rest: the bubonic plague, said Emily Renn, a PhD student at Northern Arizona University’s School of Earth and Sustainability

“Throughout Arizona, Gunnison’s prairie dogs declined over 96% across their range,” Renn said.

However, even though they were petitioned for protection under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency determined that listing the prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act was not justified.

Historically, their range was much broader than today, but there still is hope, said Jim Devos, the Mexican wolf coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

“We believe that with some of the conservation measures others are implementing, we anticipate if we can get on top of the plague issue, which is the single greatest challenge today, that we can get back to more robust prairie dogs,” said Devos. Continue reading →