Category Archives: Students

Journalism and non-journalism students at Michigan State University explore how to better report environmental issues to the public at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

Environmental journalism courses can help students meet the School of Journalism’s elective requirements. They can also be used as part of an environmental theme to complete the school’s concentration requirement by combining them with environment-related courses outside the journalism program. See your academic adviser or contact the Knight Center.

Non-journalism students interested in environmental issues are encouraged to contact instructors to discuss waiver of pre-requisites. Often a journalism environmental course may meet communication course requirements of other departments.

Undergraduates are also encouraged to join the student Environmental Journalism Association and write for Great Lakes Echo to gain resume-building experience and clips.

Undergraduate students are eligible for several awards and scholarships in environmental journalism.

They are encouraged to augment their study with environment classes and programs elsewhere at MSU such as the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment.

Environmental Journalism Association to elect officers, discuss tours and trips, social media presence

By Evan Kreager
Members of the Environmental Journalism Association meet at 5 p.m. Thursday to elect officers, discuss camping trips and a tour of an organic farm and to develop fresh ideas.
The group of students interested in environmental issues and reporting meets in the Knight Center at 382 Communication Arts and Sciences.
An MSU-EJA Facebook page and a WordPress blog will be up and running soon.
Also this week the group will go over details about Powershift, the weekend-long youth leadership and environmental action conference in Pittsburgh this October.
If you haven’t been to a meeting yet, don’t be shy! We would love to see some new faces.

First flight: MSU journalism students take camera aloft in public television studio

MSU Knight Center journalism students fly a drone in a WKAR studio

Marte Skaara, a student at MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, pilots a drone with a high definition camera through a WKAR studio.

The camera flew through the WKAR public television studio on four rotors, spinning and even flipping as it recorded high definition images.
MSU students operated the drone with an I-Pad, getting a feel for the challenges of controlling a video feed while keeping the camera aloft. The exercise is part of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism’s new course, News eye in the clear sky.
The course examines the use of remote sensing devices – satellite images, data from buoys, Internet cameras, motion sensors, wildlife tracking sensors and drones – to better explain complex environmental issues to the public.
Federal regulators have not yet released rules for the civilian use of drones outdoors. But the potential these Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have for capturing images has journalists and others plenty interested in how the technology will be harnessed.
They are particularly valuable for covering environmental issues and large scale landscape changes.
The MSU students are studying remote sensing technology’s potential application to journalism and other fields. At the same time they are researching the ethical and privacy concerns that such technology poses.
The course is taught by Knight Center Associate Director David Poulson.

Evan Kreager flies with Erik Stiem as co-pilot.

EJA to elect officers, plan activities

Michigan State University’s Environmental Journalism Association will elect officers and plan the semester’s events at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in 382 Communication Arts and Sciences.
A dozen students interested in the organization met for the first time Sept. 5. Students need not be journalism majors to participate. Potential activities include field trips to environmentally interesting locations on campus and elsewhere, camping, photo workshops, movie nights, volunteering in the Echo newsroom.
The group also discussed a new opportunity for collaborating with other campus groups interested in the environment.
Students interested in joining the association can contact Knight Center Associate Director David Poulson at poulsondavid@gmail.com or simply show up to the next meeting.

MSU students wanted for reporting positions

Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism seeks reporters for its award-winning Great Lakes Echo environmental news service.

These are paid positions for MSU students. Reporters work 10 to 12 hours a week on a flexible schedule during the day. The job is physically located in the Knight Center’s offices at 382 Communication Arts and Sciences.

Preferred candidates will have a record of previously published/produced work and an interest in the environment. Neither are required.

Echo journalists mostly report with text but often report with video, audio, slideshows and other journalism forms. They need not be the Swiss army knife of journalism. Applicants should emphasize their strengths – the more the better.

An ability to hustle is particularly valued.

By noon Friday, Sept. 6, 2013, applicants should submit: