The MSU College of Communication Arts & Sciences is showcasing Knight Center research director Bruno Takahashi as one of eight faculty members honored for their research and creative activities.
Takahashi, an assistant professor of journalism and communication, is an authority on international news coverage of environmental issues, especially climate change.
Takahashi’s overall research agenda focuses on environmental discourses from an international and intercultural perspective. Within this broad area, he is particularly interested in media representation across nations and its relationships with policy-making.

From this comparative international perspective, for example, one recent study examines how U.S. and Canadian newspapers in the Great Lakes region use expert news sources in coverage of climate change. A study now underway compares coverage of hydraulic fracturing – fracking – by newspapers in the United States and Spain.
Takahashi is also interested in environmental journalism practices and the impacts of changes in the industry and technology on reporting. Among those studies is an article about the changing nature of environmental discourse that compares environmental journalists with bloggers.
From an intercultural perspective, he is now studying Latino media’s coverage of environmental issues. The project focuses on news-decision makers’ perceptions of environmental issues.
He also is completing a study that looks at New York farmers’ risk perceptions related to climate change.
The college started its research showcase on the main floor of the Communication Arts & Sciences building in 2012 to recognize outstanding work by faculty. Eight faculty members are chosen each semester for such recognition.