Category Archives: Writing

Learning from the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference

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Editor’s note: This is the 1st in a series of posts by environmental reporting students on things they learned at the recent Society of Environmental Journalists conference.

By Anne Hooper

Anne Hooper

If you’re anything like me, hearing the word “conference” stirs up anxiety. The thought of being surrounded by experts as they converse in industry jargon is intimidating—especially when you’re there to get a scoop.

With a few tips and tricks, however, you can take intimidation out of the equation.

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Capturing hard times – in only 6 words

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By Eric Freedman

The COVID-19 pandemic is all around us, saturating news reports, dominating conversations, shuttering businesses, isolating hundreds of millions, disrupting schools, derailing sports and the arts, befuddling science.

Meanwhile, pummeling us are natural disasters as diverse as wildfires in Australia and the American West, hurricanes and tropical storms in the Caribbean and Southeast U.S., typhoons in Japan and the Koreas, landslides in Nepal and India.

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Environmental journalism student recounts internship challenges

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By Cassidy Hough

This summer I landed an awesome internship despite not being totally qualified.  I was the environmental news intern for Interlochen Public Radio, the National Public Radio member network for Northern Michigan.

My first piece of advice is to apply apply apply.  Don’t put all your eggs in one basket for that perfect internship that you’re 100% qualified for, because odds are there’s 100 other qualified people applying for that same internship.

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Knight Center director writes on presidents and racism

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How have American presidents fared in confronting racism?

Poorly, according to Knight Center director Eric Freedman and former Detroit Free Press journalist Stephen Jones, who teaches history at Central Michigan University.

President Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington at the White House in 1901.

In a new column for The Conversation, Freedman and Jones say the anger over racial injustice that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s killing has forced Americans to confront their history, including the role of presidential leadership – and lack of leadership – on racial issues. An honest assessment of American presidential leadership on race reveals a handful of courageous actions, they write, but an abundance of racist behavior, even by those remembered as equal rights supporters.