Category Archives: Uncategorized

Knight Center students tackle science communication with data, humor, puppets and song

MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism ran a science communication class during fall 2022 for 17 students from diverse science and communication fields.

 The class produced compelling stories from dry studies, created narratives to accompany animated datasets, produced a shadow puppet show about invasive species, planned a museum exhibit of the future, created science TikToks and used humor to explain science.

One produced and performed a song with the rest of the class backing him. Another produced this video of what the rest of the class did.

Piles of garbage clutter Villa El Salvador  

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism recently taught an online environmental journalism to a group of university students in Peru. This is one of the stories produced during that effort. The program was funded by the U.S. Embassy in Lima.

By Valeria Romero Espinoza  

The corners of streets and avenues in the district of Villa El Salvador have become a garbage dump that creates an unpleasant landscape for passers-by who pass through these places daily.  

The piles of garbage are an ongoing problem because the system for the collection and transportation of domestic and public waste is deficient and disorganized. 

There is no proper solid waste management by the local government.  

People leave their garbage bags and all types of waste at certain points on public roads, such as sidewalks, parks, avenues and central berms, many of these around markets, hospitals and schools, which leads to the accumulation of large amounts of garbage.  

Garbage bags on Av. Micaela Bastidas.

Neighbors say this problem has several roots.   Continue reading

Uzbek journalism educators visit Knight Center, J-School

Meeting with Journalism School director Tim Vos

 

For the past two weeks, the J-School hosted representatives from the Journalism & Mass Communications University of Uzbekistan as part of a capacity-building environmental and health reporting project funded by the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan.

Knight Center director Eric Freedman developed the project and secured the grant.

At the State News

Nozima Muratova, who led the delegation, is the vice rector for research and innovation at the 4-year-old university in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent. Mukarram Otamurodova is a Ph.D. student who teaches an environmental, health and science course. Dilnora Azimova, who earned her master’s degree in MSU’s Health and Risk Communication Program, is a project consultant.

With journalism librarian Kathleen Weessies

 

They gave guest lectures in environmental reporting and health & risk communication classes, met with Michigan environmental and health communicators and reporters, and led a brown bag discussion of Uzbekistan’s media landscape for the MSU Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Meeting with Steve Hanson, Associate provost and Dean of International Studies & Programs

They also visited the Detroit News, Crain Communications, Detroit Public TV and the State News and met with MSU’s dean of International Studies & Programs.

In addition, they toured three environmentally significant sites: MSU’s Horticultural Gardens, Saugatuck State Park and the Granger landfill in Lansing.

Freedman is scheduled to visit their university later this month under the State Department grant.

 

 

Arancay: A place that preserves its nature and customs 

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism recently taught an online environmental journalism to a group of university students in Peru. This is one of the stories produced during that effort. The program was funded by the U.S. Embassy in Lima.

By Antonnela Bendaño Guzmán  

Arancay

Meza J. (2022). “Arancay: A place that preserves its nature and customs”.

Arancay,  located in the province of Huamalíes, department of Huánuco in Peru, derives its name from the genus of arachnid that abounded there because the Arampacay is similar to the common tarantula. 

The town consists of an area of 158.33 square kilometers at an altitude of 3,050 meters with 2,053 residents.  

In this town, you can observe its beautiful nature trapped in time, with its mountains, some covered with a nice green color, some reddish and others that stand out for the silvery glow of their rocks. Its vegetation is abundant, especially the huge eucalyptus, a medicinal plant widely used to treat colds. 

Arancay is surrounded by the crystal-clear waters of the Marañon River with a  dry temperate climate. 

The place retains its nineteenth century architecture, adobe houses with wooden balconies and red roofs.  

Arancay

When I visited in July 2022 for Peru’s national holidays, I was surprised by the warmth of its people and the fact that they still maintain their customs, such as the Huarahua dance Campish de Arancay which is a warrior dance. 

There are also medieval competitions such as the race of ribbons on horseback and the bullfight in which they only play but do not kill.  The most surprising thing about this place is that there is no pollution because there is little mobility of means of transport, which do not emit pollutants.  

Talking with one of the inhabitants, he told me many stories and legends of Arancay. One of them is about the ruins of a place that people do not approach because they have seen a giant snake that guards it.  

He also told me that, in the past, the inhabitants had to walk since there was no road,  and to make a short trip, they had to pass by the edge of a lagoon called Negrococha lagoon. They gave it that name  because in the middle  is a black statue.  

He told us that they stopped walking along the edge of the lagoon because people who passed by there disappeared, and even if they were tied up with rope, one of them always disappeared.  

This could be described as a place to be visited, to breathe fresh air, to see a rainbow and at night to appreciate the brightness of the stars and constellations.  

Finally, I acquired information about nature, environment, cultures and people, and I learned to write about my experiences in environmental journalism.