Tag Archives: environmental journalism

Cultivating uncertainty through science reporting

Image: Mike Gifford, Flickr.
By Marie Orttenburger
SACRAMENTO – Science is integral to environmental reporting, but it’s also a source of the field’s biggest dilemmas.
Science reporters often find themselves crafting imperfect metaphors, navigating complex findings, trying not to overwhelm the reader with data. And they’re doing all of that while struggling to understand the science themselves.
The “EJ Reporting: Don’t Forget the Science” panel at the Society of Environmental Journalist’s recent 26th annual conference tackled this challenge. The discussion, featuring science reporters Sarah Zielinski, Dan Fagin, Janet Raloff and Christopher Joyce, opened with some reassurance.
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Environment reporter talks AP with Knight Center students

John Flesher speaks with students over a pizza lunch. Image: Barb Miller.

John Flesher, left, speaks with journalism students at the Knight Center about his career at the Associated Press. Image: Barb Miller.

By Marie Orttenburger
John Flesher has spent almost his entire news career working for the Associated Press.
That’s given him an up-close view of the wire service’s evolution in the past 35 years.
He evolved as well, growing into environmental coverage and providing the AP with Great Lakes news—a coverage area it had not previously explored.
Flesher recently visited Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism to talk with students about his career path.
He began at the AP doing editing and broadcast writing assignments and general reporting at the Raleigh, North Carolina bureau. He covered a range of subjects before settling into a government and politics beat.
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Dan Fagin talks Toms River, environmental reporting, cats

Dan Fagin discusses environmental journalism and his Pulitzer Prize-winning Toms River with MSU students in the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism

Dan Fagin discusses environmental journalism and his Pulitzer Prize-winning Toms River with MSU students during a pizza lunch in the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. Image: Anthony Cepak

By Marie Orttenburger
Dan Fagin describes epidemiology as “a very long word for a very simple thing.”
What it amounts to is connecting the dots, he said recently at a presentation about his Pulitzer prize-winning book at Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. Though the concept may be “simple,” the process is no small feat.
Fagin is an environmental journalist and director of New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. He visited MSU to discuss epidemiology and how he applied it in writing his best-selling book, “Toms River.” Continue reading →

Knight Center faculty member discusses environmental journalism with Chinese business officials

Knight Center Research Director Bruno Takahashi discusses environmental journalism with Chinese business representatives.

Research Director Bruno Takahashi recently discussed environmental journalism and communication with a delegation of Chinese business representatives.
The presentation was part of a week-long visit to East Lansing organized by the Visiting International Professional Program at Michigan State University October 12 to 16, 2015. The delegation of 17 individuals (including presidents, directors and managers) from the Shaanxi province represented companies that deal with environmental issues:
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