Category Archives: Classes

Although the lab course numbers remain the same, topics change semester to semester. Check MSU’s schedule of courses for the latest information. The three-credit courses can be taken more than once.
Completion requirements for the graduate 800 level courses are greater than those of the undergraduate 400 level courses.

JRN 472/872 Lab Environmental Reporting
This course gives students hands on experience producing environmental news stories. Class-produced stories meeting professional standards are published on the center’s award-winning Great Lakes Echo non-profit news service. Students have analyzed the ecological footprint of Spartan Stadium and the pollution inputs into the Red Cedar River. They have waded in rivers to examine macroinvertebrates, analyzed and mapped data and explored creative reader engagement techniques such as this one modeled after Jaywalking on the Tonight Show or this one that gives clues to polluted sites. Others include the Great Lakes Smackdown and the popular carp bombs. The course offers a great way to pick up clips and experience. Story types vary by student interest and skill but can encompass text, audio, photography, video and creative reader engagement strategies. Topics vary semester to semester and students can take the course more than once and for variable credit.
In the fall of 2013 the course is called News eye in the clear sky. Students will shoot video from an aerial drone while exploring the exciting opportunities and thorny ethical and legal challenges of new ways of perceiving the environment with satellite imagery, drones and other remote sensing techniques. And they will look at some of the newsworthy aspects of the other civilian applications of such technology.

JRN 473/873 Seminar in environmental journalism
The course focuses on news media reporting of environmental, scientific and health issues. The seminar is mostly guided by the following question: How can journalists deal with scientific uncertainty and the inherent complexities of environmental and health issues? The discussions cover topics such as: journalists’ role conceptions, journalistic norms, environmental discourses in popular culture, use of expert sources, reporters’ beliefs and perceptions, organizational constraints, and the gap between journalistic and scientific cultures, among others. We discuss historical and current issues where science has played a central role in their media reporting. These issues include, among others: energy, smoking, climate change, ozone layer hole, GMOs, hydraulic fracturing, population growth, and natural disasters.

Elsewhere within the School of Journalism
Students are encouraged to explore environmental reporting in the context of other journalism classes such as feature writing, multi-media production, broadcast, Capital News Service and public affairs classes. Instructors of such classes often collaborate with the Knight Center.

Elsewhere at MSU
Both graduate and undergraduate students interested in environmental reporting are encouraged to broaden their knowledge of environmental science and policy by exploring related coursework at MSU. This is required of undergraduates seeking an environmental concentration and of masters students pursuing the environmental option.
Among the Knight Center affiliated programs at MSU are the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment for undergraduates and the university’s Environmental Science and Policy Program for graduate students.

From MSU student to media leader: Susan Goldberg returns to inspire future journalists

By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

Award-winning journalist Susan Goldberg, the president and CEO of GBH and former editor-in-chief of National Geographic, returned to the MSU campus to speak with students, faculty and community members at the Neal Shine Ethics Lecture.

Susan Goldberg speaking on March 10th at MSU’s WKAR

Goldberg’s visit was part of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of environmental journalism at MSU.

Her talk at the WKAR TV studio focused on the power of storytelling and the responsibility journalists have to deliver accurate, meaningful information to the public.

“There is nothing more important than telling accurate, important, timely stories that shine a light into dark corners so problems can be fixed,” Goldberg told the audience.

The annual lecture honors the legacy of Neal Shine, a former publisher and editor of the Detroit Free Press who championed ethical journalism and public service reporting.

Goldberg’s talk, “Storytelling that Matters,” centered on how journalists can better communicate complicated issues such as science and climate change. She outlined principles for effective storytelling, including finding ways to make audiences care, sparking curiosity and focusing on solutions instead of only highlighting problems. Continue reading →

Paid summer reporting internships available for MSU students at six Michigan news organizations

Michigan State University students are eligible for six paid internships this summer at major multi-media Michigan news organizations.

These internships through MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism meet the MSU J-School’s internship requirement. Environmental expertise or particular interest is not required. But you’ll gain both.

The application deadline is Saturday, February 28, 2026.

Four internships are with members of the Great Lakes News Collaborative, a group of independent multi-media news organizations. These are for students with diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Please review the job descriptions for each newsroom. When applying, please rank which newsroom(s) interest you from the most to the least, based on the job descriptions and your ability to fulfill the location requirements. Circle of Blue, for example, is entirely remote, while Bridge Michigan, Detroit PBS and Michigan Public are hybrid or in-person. Continue reading →

FREELANCING

So you’ve landed a pitch: Science writers’ tips and tricks for freelancing

By Emilio Perez Ibarguen

This is the 4th in a series of articles by Knight Center students who attended the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers.

Financial instability, long gaps between assignments and burnout are challenges many freelance journalists must deal with, whether they’re new to the business or have been writing for decades.

At the recent conference of the National Association of Science Writers in Chicago, freelancers and editors met to discuss how both sides can better understand each other, communicate effectively and, in the process, produce better journalism.

Throughout the panel, the editors and freelancers repeatedly emphasized the value of communication.

Sarah Scoles, a freelancer who has written for WIRED and The New York Times, noted that editors are often happy to give reporters more time to fact check parts of their story, as long as they’re given a heads up.

Scoles, who is also a contributing editor for Scientific American, recalled a recent day when she was asked to fact check details in three separate stories, and subsequently “had a really bad day.”

Had she just reached out to one of those editors and asked for an extra day, Scoles said, she would have saved herself the headache.

Editors and freelance journalists emphasized the benefits of communication at the recent National Association of Science Writers annual conference in Chicago. Credit: Emilio Perez Ibarguen

“Remembering that editors want to help you, since they know you’re people, is a good thing to do,” Scoles told an audience of science journalists, writers and communicators.

Shi En Kim, another freelancer whose work has appeared in National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine, added that freelancers shouldn’t be scared to be upfront about unexpected challenges in their reporting process.

A source falling through or a specific reporting date changing isn’t the end of the world, said Kim, who goes by her last name, but it’s best to keep the person in charge of editing the final piece in the loop.

Another nugget of advice Kim offered: having a quick 15-minute call to go through questions with your editor can be far quicker, and more effective, than a prolonged email correspondence. Continue reading →

Knight Center hosts high school journalism students to share work, discuss importance of environmental journalism