Environmental journalism is about more than just Al Gore’s latest venture or the hot new green item on the market; it’s also about environmental justice—holding corporations, individuals and government accountable for actions taken against the environment. This aspect of environmental reporting may be what attracts minority reporters most to the field.

“I read an advertisement for a bone marrow drive for three young girls in Hollister, Calif. who were diagnosed with a rare case of leukemia,” said Jinah Kim, correspondent for NBC news & KNBC news, which serves the Los Angeles area.

During the project she found that the three girls had a gasoline additive in their systems, which started a cancer cluster in Hollister, Calif.

“That was what influenced my decision to go into environmental journalism,” Kim said.

Stories like these were uncovered during a study conducted in the summer of 2007 by the Michigan State University Knight Center for Environmental Journalism in conjunction with the McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The study’s purpose was to assist the Knight Center in recruiting more minority reporters to the environmental beat and to understand the reasons why there are so few of them.

The study had ten participants, including nine environmental journalists and one non-environmental reporter.
“This study helps us prepare our outreach efforts,” said Dave Poulson, associate director of the Knight Center. “We hope to hold a conference on the issue next year, perhaps in conjunction with the UNITY conference in Chicago.” UNITY is a conference held by the major minority journalists associations.

The study found that environmental issues have been a concern of only certain groups of people.

“Traditionally the environmental movement has been viewed as a white middle class issue,” said Jim Motavalli, editor of E: The Environmental Magazine.He said that the reason for this is that those who started the environmental movement were mainly white, middle-class people.

Another key finding was that minorities feel that to report on the environment accurately they need a strong science background, something that minorities don’t always get.

“Environmental journalism does require somewhat of a science mind,” said Loretta Williams, managing editor of DNA Files, a program that shows how genetic science affects everyday life.

The study concluded that one of the main reasons minorities don’t feel the need to cover the environment is because they don’t see environmental issues as a concern that affects them the most.

“Environmental issues don’t necessarily top the list that affects communities of color,” said Dawn Turner Trice, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. “Fewer people of color are in journalism as it is, and the ones that are here worry more about social justice.”

The study also provided the Knight Center with suggestions for recruiting minority journalists.

“They should host workshops that teach other professors how to introduce environmental journalism to students and the administration at their home institutions,” said Linda Callahan, a professor at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. She added that the Knight Center should also provide professors with a sample curriculum.

Some of the subjects in the study also recommended forming alliances with the four major minority associations: the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association.

In addition, participants emphasized that funding for fellowships to programs like the Knight Center’s training boot camps was important to recruiting journalists and incorporating cross curriculums and programs with different college departments.

“Continue to provide scholarships to journalists who attend the fellows Boot Camp in addition to partnering with the minority journalists associations, the NLGJA (National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association) and the CCMNA (California Chicano News Media Association,” said Kim.

Overall, the study was considered a success, Poulson said. “It confirmed what we had suspected, that a good way to attract a minority journalist’s interest in the environment is by approaching the issue as one of environmental justice.”