Professor Eric Freedman
Professor Joshua Duchan
Knight Center director Eric Freedman and Professor Joshua Duchan of the Wayne State University School of Music presented their study about the depiction of newsboys and newsgirls in sheet music between the mid-1840s and the late 1930s.
This presentation was part of the “Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lves” series sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources & Labor Relations and the MSU Library.
Eric Freedman
By Eric Freedman
Director, Knight Center for Environmental Journalism
There’s nothing like almost dying to wake you up to the multiple realities of America’s health care system.
I nearly died in April from a still-unidentified collapse and its complications, including pneumonia, blackouts, heavy bleeding, liver damage and ICU delirium during seven weeks at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital, four of them on a ventilator.
I have no memory of my first five weeks there.
When it first happened, my children and grandchildren arrived from four states, although I don’t remember their visit or their encouraging words.
For me, the experience highlighted the fragility of life and our vulnerability to sometimes-inexplicable health crises, regardless of how well we’ve taken care of ourselves: eaten – mostly – right, exercised and had regular medical exams and tests.
Beyond that, however, came deeper insights about inequities in the American medical system, starting with access to and the high cost of care.
Medical expenses can push patients and their families without good health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or VA benefits into a devastating choice between bankruptcy on one hand and foregoing lifesaving treatment on the other hand.
Talk about sticker shock. The retail price – the bottom line – for two days at Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, where my arduous medical journey began in the emergency department: $87,748. The ambulance transfer while I was comatose and in critical condition from Sparrow to Henry Ford Hospital’s ICU: $13,520. Continue reading
Knight Center director Eric Freedman recently guest lectured to students at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Eric Freedman pictured with students at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
In his lecture, Freedman discussed the important role of environmental journalism in public life. He discussed how the stories environmental journalists produce often have a direct influence on government policy and public health. Environmental journalists are often required to communicate complex topics in a way that is easy to understand for general audiences, making them essential for the public’s understanding of environmental issues.
Despite its critical importance, environmental journalism faces many challenges. Speaking with students at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University via Zoom, Freedman outlined six major challenges faced by those working in field.
Dr. Bruno Takahashi, research lead for the SciComm Identities Project. Photo by Phoebe Neel
A recent partnership between Michigan State’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, the University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute, and URI’s Science and Story Lab aims to expand diversity and create more inclusive spaces for the next generation of science communicators.
The SciComm Identities Project (SCIP) is a five-year project backed by $2.8 million in grant funding from the National Science Foundation. The project aims to promote racial and ethnic diversity within the field by developing science communication training that is centered on the identities, motivations, and experiences of racial and ethnic minority scientists.
While progress has been made to bring more voices into the field, historically marginalized scientists still face obstacles throughout their careers.