Category Archives: Eric Freedman

Eric Freedman is the director of Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism

MSU Latinx Film Festival returns with international films, music and conversations

By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira

The MSU Latinx Film Festival (LxFF), cosponsored by the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, returned Feb. 19 -22 for its fourth edition, bringing international cinema, live music and conversations about immigration, environmental justice and identity to Michigan State University and venues across Lansing.

Attendees watch a film at MSU’s Latinx Film Festival. Credit: Scott Boehm.

Founded in 2018 by Scott Boehm, an assistant professor of 20th and 21st Spanish culture, the festival has grown from six films over four days into the largest Latino, Hispanic and Latin American film festival in Michigan. Nearly all of this year’s films were Michigan premieres, and more than half were Midwest premieres.

Several selections were previously screened at major international festivals, including the Berlin International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. Boehm said many of the films had only one or two screenings in the United States before arriving in East Lansing.

“What you’ll find is something you would expect to see in New York or Miami or Houston or San Diego or LA,” Boehm said. “But it’s in Lansing.”

This year’s lineup featured 12 full-length films and shorts from Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Spain and the United States. Topics included immigration, racism, U.S. militarism in Latin America, child sex trafficking, class, ageism and environmental justice.

Environmental justice has become a permanent part of the festival’s programming. Boehm said the climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues facing the planet and that Indigenous and marginalized communities often feel its effects first. Continue reading →

Knight Center co-sponsors two films at upcoming MSU Latinx Film Festival

The first is titled “Karuara, People of the River.” According to the festival’s website: “A vibrant hand-painted animation brings whimsical Karuara spirits to life in Peru’s Amazon. Their mission: maintain the Marañón River’s ecological balance as the Kukama people fight for the river’s legal personhood.”

J-School professor Bruno Takahashi will be presenting the film alongside one of the directors.

The second is called “Through Rocks and Clouds (Raíz).” According to the website: “Feliciano, an 8-year-old alpaca herder, feels euphoric: Peru has a chance to qualify for the World Cup. Meanwhile the pressure of a mining company puts Feliciano’s village at risk and threatens his world and his dreams.”

Both showings are free and will take place Thursday, Feb. 19 in Wells Hall.

For more information about these films and the rest of the festival, visit https://msulatinxfilmfestival.com/

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 →

Five science writers share tips on how to make science stories entertaining and funny

By Clara Lincolnhol

This is the 6th in a series of articles by Knight Center students who attended the recent annual conference of the National Association of Science Writers.

“Welcome to how to engage an audience,” said Kathyrn Jepson, the editor-in-chief for Symmetry Magazine and a science fiction editor.

Jepson and four other journalists spoke at a panel at the National Science Writers Conference in Chicago to share how writers can implement humor in their writing to get readers hooked on a scientific story.

Blythe Terrell, the executive editor at Science Vs., said a critical way to tell a funny science story is by getting the scientist in on a joke.

“One of the critical ways we do that is by giving scientists a space where they hopefully feel comfortable opening up and having just a little bit of fun,” Terrell said. “And that is often on our tape in our audio.”

She said they will write weird questions and see if the scientist wants to go along with them.

“It’s not like we aren’t taking the topic seriously. We are treating it with seriousness. The rest of the episode is serious, but we find space for these things and we find that really engages listeners,” Terrell said.

Kate Gammon, a comedian, and freelance journalist, said she writes a lot about crises, like the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis and political crisis. “It felt sometimes like I was writing an obituary for nature,” Gammon said. “So I had to make jokes.” Continue reading →