Category Archives: Bruno Takahashi

Knight Center Researchers Share Work at International Conference

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.

 

Environmental communication symposium and workshop hosting Latin American scholars ends in collaboration

BY ANNA BARNES, SHEALYN PAULIS

Symposium participants

From Mon. March 31, to Wed. April 2, 2025, Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) hosted the Counter-Hegemonic Environmental Discourses in Latin American Contexts Symposium and Workshop. The event featured a full day of panels where visiting Latin American scholars representing eight countries presented their research on environmental communication.

Latin American perspectives are often marginalized from international academic spaces. Systematic barriers prevent researchers from being included in global conversations, such as language, translation difficulties and emphasis on work produced in the Global North. Additionally, the availability of funding is a stark contrast for academics in the Global South compared to their northern counterparts. These barriers have made scientific inclusion and cooperation between the Global North and South challenging.

The event highlighted research and scholarship from Latin America, with discussions centered on the communication of environmental health issues, sustainability, environmental journalism, and hegemonic perspectives. It also explored the audiences and sources of environmental communication, with particular attention to Indigenous and marginalized communities. Continue reading

University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum Presentations

Five Knight Center undergraduate assistants have presented their year-long research at MSU’s annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum at the Breslin Center.

 

Shealyn Paulis and Anna Barnes

Shealyn Paulis and Anna Barnes, who worked with Knight Center research director Bruno Takahashi, presented their project “Environmental Communication in Latin American Context.”

Patrick Ferrino and Katherine Dyal

 

Katherine Dyal and Patrick Ferrino, who worked with Knight Center director Eric Freedman, presented their project “The Lived Experience of Journalists in Exile.”

 

Clara Lincolnhol

Clara Lincolnhol, who worked with Great Lakes Echo editor Jeff Brooks-Gilles, presented her project “Experience as a Great Lakes Echo Environmental Reporter.”

 

Counter-Hegemonic Environmental Discourses in Latin American Contexts Symposium and Workshop

From Monday, March 31, to Wednesday, April 2, Michigan State University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism will host the Counter-Hegemonic Environmental Discourses in Latin American Contexts Symposium and Workshop. The event invites researchers, staff and students to join as 14 scholars representing eight Latin American countries discuss their research in environmental communication.

The symposium and workshop will allow scholars to share their perspectives from a critical and decolonial perspective, one rarely highlighted in western publications. The symposium aims to explore the obstacles researchers face in their fields, such as language barriers, hegemonic perspectives and paywalls.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the full-day symposium where they will gain valuable insights from diverse, multicultural perspectives and have the opportunity to engage with international scholars. By fostering these connections, the MSU community can broaden its academic sourcing and open students to new, underrepresented ideas.

Among the featured presenters is Ana Claudia Nepote, a researcher and full-time professor based out of the city of Morelia in México. Nepote focuses on issues related to science-society interactions, environmental communication and communication for environmental sustainability. Her panel will be discussing cultural diversity in sustainability communication . Continue reading