Youth Environmental Journalism Workshop

This Friday, more than 200 Chicago-area high school students will gather for a day of learning about urban environmental issues and how to report and write about issues such as:

• Food Deserts and Human Health
• Greening African-American Communities
• Environmental Justice and Public Health
• How Cities can Advance Environmental goals
• Water Conservation
• Issues in Environmental Journalism
• Eliminating Lead and Other Toxic Metals in the Environment

The event, hosted by Columbia College Chicago's Journalism Department and the Chicago Botanic Garden will feature workshops and some of the area’s top experts and journalists, including Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune. The conference will also showcase the work of:  

• Chicago's Free Spirit Media, a media production company for urban teens and a member of the Chicago Youth Voices Network 
• The work of Marisol Becerra, including the"The Cloud Factory," a documentary on the dangerous pollution in the Little Village neighborhood,

Stay tuned for our coverage of the event on Friday, February 18, 2011.  Download the event poster for more information.

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SEJ's 19th Annual Convergence in Madison

(Photo by Madeline Bodin)
This past weekend the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) held its annual convention, this time in Madison, Wisc. (Next year – Missoula, Mont., followed by Miami in 2011.) As usual, the program was packed with compelling and practical panels, and also featured Al Gore, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, author Wendell Berry, and Andy Revkin of the New York Times among others. Attendance was strong — seems the niche journalism groups are doing well in that category – with approximately 750 registered, 350 SEJ members and working journalists, plus daily passes. There was even a session with Aldo Leopold’s kids (well, aged 89 and 92). See this link for SEJ blog posts, twitter streams and audio on the conference.

We met a number of talented journalists who (unfortunately) left long-time jobs earlier this year, but (fortunately) are being imaginative about ‘reinventing’ themselves. See veteran reporters Emilia Askari, Laura Frank and Robert McClure talk about what they’re up to these days at the McCormick YouTube channel.

Links at:
http://www.youtube.com/mccormickjournalism#p/a/u/2/GwP1KANITXo
http://www.youtube.com/mccormickjournalism#p/a/u/0/ALBcgFJGLp8
http://www.youtube.com/mccormickjournalism#p/a/u/1/vmMaXrWoFmw

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10 Journalists Chosen for Environmental Justice Fellowships

Ten journalists have been chosen by USC Annenberg’s Institute for Justice and Journalism (IJJ) to take part in an MF-funded fellowship program that will help them report on the complexities of urban environmental justice with clarity, depth and context.

The selected Fellows all work for ethnic media or are independent journalists who cover issued related to racial justice. The 10 Fellows are:

Edwin Buggage, editor-in-chief/writer, New Orleans Data News Weekly
Lori Edmo-Suppah, news editor, Sho-Ban News, Fort Hall, Idaho
Nadra Kareem, contributing writer, L.A. Watts Times, Los Angeles
Kari Lyderson, independent journalist, Chicago
Brentin Mock, writing fellow, The American Prospect, Washington, D.C.
Julio Cesar Ortiz, news reporter, KMEX-34 (Univision), Los Angeles
Fabiola Pomareda, reporter, La Raza newspaper, Chicago
Devin Robins, radio producer, Los Angeles
Huascar Robles, arts and culture editor, Metro San Juan, Puerto Rico
Talia Whyte, freelance journalist, Boston

The program will be divided into two parts: First the reporters and their editors will go through five days of intensive training and site visits in Los Angeles in May, to be followed by a similar segment in Chicago later this summer. The work they produce as a result of the fellowship will be posted on IJJ’s web site following the program at http://www.justicejournalism.org.

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Ethnic Media Environmental Justice Fellowships Now Available

The University of Southern California’s Institute for Justice and Journalism (IJJ) is taking applications for its 2009 MF-funded Fellowship in Environmental Justice. Aimed at increasing the depth, clarity and context of coverage of urban environmental issues, the program will include sessions in Los Angeles and Chicago and will feature field reporting trips, professional training workshops and interviews with experts. The Los Angeles session will last one week and begin April 30, 2009, and the Chicago session will take place in July, exact dates TBD. The program will select 10 experienced print, television, radio and online journalists from across the U.S. who are employed by ethnic media news organizations or independent journalists who regularly cover ethnic communities or racial justice issues. The editors or news directors of the Fellows will also take part in at least three days of the sessions in Los Angeles.

For more information, click here:
http://www.justicejournalism.org/fellowships/index.html

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Loss of Daily Reporters Hurts Great Lakes

In his turn as Guest Speaker for The Great Lakes Town Hall (www.greatlakestownhall.org), David Paulson of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University makes an eloquent case for the role of the daily reporter. And his or her impact on the Great Lakes.

"When a sewer fails, water suffers. Level a forest and the critters flee. A purple loosestrife invasion chokes a wetland in weeks. But what's the impact on the Great Lakes environment of a failing system of news and information?
Huge..."

See Paulson's posting here:
http://www.greatlakestownhall.org/opinion/guest.php?forumid=3&topicid=1225&sid=124a03fd020c4a77fd24de10b6219fba#starttopic

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Ohio State Hosts Conference on Coverage of Climate Change

A tour of the Byrd Polar Research Center to see up close actual ice cores each containing a piece of the history of the earth’s atmosphere. A talk by global warming pioneer Lonnie Thompson and a thoughtful speech by Sen. John Glenn. A timely session contrasting the proposed policies of the presidential candidates on global warming. Sessions on both reporting – and disseminating news interactively – using new media. These were some of the highlights of the Specialized Reporting Institute hosted by Ohio State University Oct. 12-14 that brought together some 28 journalists from across the country and as far away as Australia.

The OSU conference, a collaboration between the university's Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism, John Glenn School of Public Affairs and Climate, Water and Carbon Program, provided a wealth of information in a short time to attendees. The events also were taped, Blogged, Ninged and Twittered for those unable to attend. Kudos to the Kiplinger Program for producing a model in conference communication dissemination.

To see conference materials and links to extensive coverage: http://mccormickc3.ning.com/

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Climate Change Reporting Opp - Apply Now!

Are you writing about major droughts or trying to explain the science behind rapidly melting glaciers? Do you want to better understand climate change, its impact on your community and how govermnents plan to respond?

If so, you can join a select group of journalists from across the country for this all-expenses paid Climate Change conference. This cutting-edge environmental conference, one of four Specialized Reporting Institutes that McCormick funds each year, will take place Oct. 12-14 at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

For more information, go to http://mccormickc3.com/overview/overview.html.

Applications, which are due Sept. 8, are at: http://mccormickc3.com/application/McC3_Application.pdf.

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Motown Blazes Way in Teen Journalism + The Environment

How do you get urban teens interested in journalism? And to make it an even taller order – in environmental journalism, math and science?

We can all learn from what they’re doing in Detroit. The lessons drawn from the 3rd annual city-wide high school journalism conference (“Steroids, Makeup and Polar Bears: Journalism and the Environment”) that took place Wed. Feb. 27 read like a How To:

* First, invite some 200 DPS students and their journalism advisors/chaperones to take a day away from school
* Host the event at the very impressive Detroit Zoo, which has a great educational facility and interactive exhibits and an amazing array of guest ‘speakers’ from amphibians of all kinds to polar bears and arctic foxes
* Ask a group of high energy experts to organize and manage the program. In this case, vision and leadership came from committed people like Jim Detjen (director of Michigan StateUniversity’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism), Cheryl Pell (director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association) and Emilia Askari of the Detroit Free Press
* Shape the agenda around topics that are relevant and news worthy to teen reporters, such as - steroids use, environmental justice, the dangers of make up, global warming and teen depression
* Invite local anchors like Carolyn Clifford and meteorologist Andrew Humphrey to provide truly inspirational opening remarks
* Ask eager young reporters like Chris Lau and Kirkland Crawford of the Detroit Free Press (who aren’t that far removed from high school themselves) to moderate sessions
* Oh, and finally have the whole thing piggyback on the steady coaching and nurturing of local talent by the likes of Erin Hill of the Detroit Free Press who heads the newspaper's inspired high school journalism initiative

Then add the energy, curiosity and giddiness of more than 200 high school students and you’ve got the mix for a winner. The high points of such an event are numerous but one stood out for me. At the end of his talk meteorologist Humphrey asked how many of the seniors in the audience were registered to vote. He then opened his bag and had voter registration forms distributed to all those that weren't.

Successful youth journalism programs like this are, after all, about much more than journalism alone. They're about inspiring young minds and opening up career possibilities but also about kick-starting interest in our communities and country and civic participation in our democratic society.

But what a great place to start.

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