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What would Lou do? Searching for ethical guidelines in a changed media landscape

David Poulson

By David Poulson
Many reporters of my generation went into journalism because of the Watergate scandal.
Holding public officials accountable – public service journalism – was the attraction then. So, too, were Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in All the president’s men, the movie version of that story.
Me? I was more of a Lou Grant kind of guy. Ed Asner isn’t as pretty as Redford nor as cool as Hoffman. But the crusty fictional city editor he played on the television show couldn’t be beat for advancing the nobler aspects of the profession.

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Knight Center faculty and students present at International Communication Association

Faculty and graduate students affiliated with the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism are presenting research at the upcoming International Communication Association conference in Seattle, May 22-26, 2014.
These presentations focus on environmental journalism or environmental communication:

Besley, J., Oh, H., Khan, M. L. (Ph.D student), Chen, L. (2014). Does Being a Jerk Work: Testing the Impact of Aggressive Communication in the Context of Health and Environmental Risk
Takahashi, B., Edwards, G. (Brown University), Roberts, T. (Brown University), Duan, R. (Master student) (2014). Exploring the Use of Online Collaborative Platforms for Climate Change Policy and Public Engagement
Takahashi, B., Huang, K. (Ph.D student), Fico, F., Poulson, D. (2014). Climate Change in Great Lakes Region Newspapers: A Study of the Use of Expert Sources
Takahashi, B., Pinto, J. (Florida International University), Vigon, M. (Florida International University), Chavez, M. (2014). El Ambiente y Las Noticias: Understanding U.S. Spanish Language Newsrooms’ Coverage of Environmental Issues

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Green versus green and energy dilemmas

Eric Freedman

About twice a year I drive roundtrip between Michigan and Colorado, about 1,200 miles each way. Each time I marvel at the array of wind turbines – hundreds of them – on the high ridges along both sides of Interstate 80 in western Iowa. This in a state with mega-acres of corn grown to make ethanol.
In fact, Iowa ranked first in the nation in ethanol production last year, with Michigan in 11^th place. And it gets the highest percentage of its electricity – about 25% — from wind, contrasted with Michigan’s 1%, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures for 2012.
Closer to home, I drove by Michigan’s largest wind turbine array in Gratiot County on my way from Lansing to Midland last fall.
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Journalist reports how to get the most from a science research field trip

Liu Jian

By Liu Jian

Field visits are an exciting and invaluable part of doing science journalism, as they allow you to gather stories, get a feel of how scientists work and increase your scientific knowledge. As a young reporter, I was lucky to be sent to Kenya to join a research team’s field trip and report on joint China-Kenya research on biodiversity for two weeks in April 2013.
My field trip was part of the Biodiversity Conservation Studies in East African Flora project, which was launched in 2010 by the Wuhan Botanical Garden (WBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. From April 1 to 14, I traveled with 10 Chinese and Kenyan researchers to sites including Mount Kenya National Park, Aberdare National Park and the Maasai Mara National Reserve.
How can journalists get the most out of such trips? I’d love to share some tips for scientific field visits.
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