Category Archives: Eric Freedman

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

Knight Center director discusses African perspective on environment, U.S. election

By Kevin Lavery
This story originally appeared on Current State and is republished here with permission.

The world is watching as Donald Trump prepares to become the 45th President of the United States. As he selects his team of advisors, many are waiting to see what policies will emerge under Trump’s leadership. Environmental regulation is just one issue.
A year ago, the U-S joined more than 100 nations in signing the Paris Agreement, which sets forth actions to slow the effects of climate change. Now, some analysts believe a Trump administration may be poised to withdraw U.S. participation in the agreement. Such an action could significantly roll back greenhouse gas emissions standards.
Current State talks with the chair of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University. Eric Freedman is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist who formerly wrote for the Detroit News. He’s recently returned from an environmental journalism workshop in Kenya, an area of the world that’s keenly watching America’s next moves.
Image: Scott Pohl

Changing press corps, changing news coverage at Michigan’s Capitol

Eric Freedman

Eric Freedman


By Eric Freedman
This column originally appeared in Domemagazine.com.
When I joined the Lansing Bureau of the Detroit News, the paper was in the process of vastly expanding its Capitol staff to more than a dozen, including a photographer and political columnist. We were by far Michigan’s largest bureau covering state government and politics. Continue reading

Marking a half-century of journalism history

Berl Schwartz, left, and Eric Freedman

Berl Schwartz, left, and Eric Freedman.


 
Knight Center director Eric Freedman moderated a public conversation with Lansing City Pulse founder and publisher Berl Schwartz about his 50-year-and-counting career in journalism.
That career brought him in contact with such figures as Sen. Teddy Kennedy, philosopher Noam Chomsky, anthropologist Margaret Mead, boxer Muhammad Ali, President Gerald Ford and musicians ranging from Alice Cooper, Janis Joplin and Billy Joel to John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Yoko Ono. Continue reading

EJ students visit Ontario environmental sites

Environmental journalism students at the Canadian customs plaza construction site in Windsor for the Gordie Howe Memorial International Bridge. Image: John Parent, Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority

Environmental journalism students at the Canadian customs plaza construction site in Windsor for the Gordie Howe Memorial International Bridge. Image: John Parent, Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority


Knight Center director Eric Freedman’s environmental reporting class spent two days in Sarnia and Windsor to give students Canadian perspectives on major issues – perspectives that don’t always mirror U.S. concerns – and to generate ideas for stories they’re writing for Great Lakes Echo and in future courses and their careers.
In preparation for the trip, Andrew Hupfeau, the Consulate General’s environmental policy expert in Detroit, came to campus the previous week to background the students on the history of U.S.-Canadian environmental cooperation in the Great Lakes Basin and the Canadian government’s position on key environmental issues. Continue reading