By JESSICA SIMPSON
J Alumni News staff
Back in the spring of 2007 as gas prices soared, ethanol was front-page news in Nebraska. At the same time, the CoJMC faculty members were brainstorming topics for an in-depth reporting class.
Two-and-a-half years later, students and faculty from that class have been honored with a national environmental journalism award for their report, Ethanol: Salvation or Damnation.
“It [was] such a timely topic,” said Carolyn Johnsen, who teaches science reporting and was one of two faculty members directing the project. “Nebraska was just going gung-ho in government to encourage ethanol plants to come to the state, and local communities were giving big tax breaks. Ethanol was looked at as a great opportunity for the state economically.”
As political candidates shifted their focus to ethanol, Johnsen and professor Joe Starita realized the potential for their in-depth class.
In his 2007 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush had called ethanol a promising source of energy.
With countless unanswered questions about ethanol’s possibilities, the in-depth reporting class, which met in the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008, had plenty of investigating to do for the report.
In 2008, while the class was working on the project, gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon.
And so 16 reporters, editors, photographers and designers examined ethanol’s potential and its pitfalls.
Cassie Fleming (center) attended the award ceremony with her father (left) and journalism professor Carolyn Johnsen
The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) honored the group’s work on Oct. 7. It’s the second national environmental-reporting award for the J school. The first came for Platte River Odyssey in 2007 from the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation.
When the journalism students showed up for their first class in August 2007, they had no in-depth reporting experience and didn’t know much about ethanol either. They didn’t foresee the controversy embroiled in the ethanol battle or the hours of work they would spend on the report.
Cassie Fleming, a senior news-editorial and political science major from Fort Collins, Colo., remembers the daunting task vividly.
“It was sort of like standing at the bottom of a huge mountain,” she said. “We had to get this report out, having no idea where to start.”
The class read Paul Roberts’ book “The End of Oil.” Students, who learned as much as they could from the book, and their professors began to formulate story ideas, Johnsen said.
“I remember one day we just covered the board with ideas, and then we just drew lines among ideas and came up with major themes,” Johnsen said.
The white board became a map leading students to specific topics. Each reporter was assigned a couple of story ideas to focus on, and the reporters became immersed in research.
Although Johnsen and Starita did not conduct interviews or make contacts for the students, the students had no trouble finding sources with strong opinions.
Fleming said it wasn’t hard to begin research.
“People were excited about ethanol at this point,” she said. “In Nebraska there is a wealth of agriculture experts, and Nebraska politicians all have an opinion on ethanol.”
Fleming drove to Hastings, Grand Island and Omaha, conducting face-to-face interviews with experts. She spoke to a diverse group of people, including state legislators and farmers.
Other students traveled across the country in search of information about the ethanol industry.
Reporters Melissa Drozda, Aaron Price and Alex Haueter even accompanied Johnsen to an environmental journalism meeting at Stanford University in California.
Johnsen said: “They just soaked up all the stuff about ethanol and alternative fuels there. They took rides in alternative fuel hybrid cars that hadn’t yet come out on the market. They were pretty engrossed.”
Students followed every lead with any ethanol connection. As they became more knowledgeable on the subject, they realized how the energy focus fit under the umbrella of environmental journalism.
Johnsen, a long-time member of SEJ, helped the students focus throughout the research and writing project. She also encouraged students to enter the awards competition.
“It’s nice to have an award because it gives the endorsement of other professionals in the field,” Johnsen said. “And I think that’s a wonderful thing for students to have these professionals pick this out and make it rise to the top. It’s not just going to look good on their resume; it should make them feel good professionally.”
The judges called the ethanol report “well-reported and exhaustive. The students took a vital issue in their community and shone a light on a wide variety of angles.”
At first, Fleming didn’t think much of entering the contest because she and other students did not see the connection between ethanol and the environment. With Johnsen’s guidance, they became convinced.
“The further along we got, the more we learned that this was more an environmental issue than we thought,” Fleming said, “It was cool to see that manifest in the award.”
Nebraska students competed against students from many other prestigious environmental journalism programs in the country, Johnsen said. The award recognizes hard work and dedication.
“This national award is a great reflection on the quality of our faculty and students and the work they do,” said interim dean Charlyne Berens. “We knew all along that they were producing excellent journalism, and we are pleased that the Society of Environmental Journalists recognized that, too.”
Fleming and Johnsen accepted the award on behalf of the other students in a presentation in Madison, Wis., in October. Journalists, students and teachers from across the country attended the annual conference.
Although not all of the students involved were able to attend, the reporters, photographers and a graphic artist split $1,000.
The report also earned recognition with an honorable mention in the College News Design Contest at the University of Missouri.
The experience and skills acquired by each student is just as important as the recognition.
Fleming, who is a senior, doesn’t know where she’ll be after graduation, but she values the professional development and passion she gained from working on the ethanol project.
The students who worked on the project and their class level at the time the work was produced are as follows:
REPORTERS
- Mimi Abebe: senior news-editorial and English major
- Melissa Drozda: master’s journalism student; bachelor’s degree in biology and English from UNL
- Cassie Fleming: junior news-editorial and political science major
- Lucas Jameson: senior news-editorial major
- Aaron Price: senior natural resource management and environmental economics major
PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Kate Veik: sophomore news-editorial major
- Kosuke Koiwai: senior broadcasting and computer science major
GRAPHICS
- Alex Haueter: senior news-editorial major
EDITORS
- Emily Anderson: junior news-editorial, advertising and English major
- Michaela Vander Weil: junior news-editorial major
DESIGNERS
- Shannon Smith: junior news-editorial major
- Scott Koperski: senior journalism major
- Mallory Wittstruck: junior agricultural journalism and news-editorial major
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