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As the Midwest braced for a dangerous cold snap, Chicago Tribune reporter Tony Briscoe knew exactly how to place the record low temperatures into scientific context. \u201cI knew who to reach out to and I felt like we did a good job,\u201d says Briscoe of the Tribune\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n
He credits Metcalf Institute\u2019s 2018 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists<\/a> with preparing him to cover these types of stories by strengthening his foundation in science. \u201cInstead of the arduous task of trying to learn something on the fly, I already had the background,\u201d says Briscoe, who contacted climate scientist and Metcalf Advisory Board member Jennifer Francis for an explanation of the connection between melting Arctic ice and extreme weather. \u201cThe fact that I was able to convey that to our readers was really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n Briscoe left Metcalf\u2019s workshop on a mission \u2013 to convince his editors to promote him to the Tribune\u2019s environmental beat. \u201cI told them that there was no better time than now to add another environmental reporter, and they agreed,\u201d says Briscoe. \u201cMetcalf Institute has really changed the course of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Not long after his promotion, Briscoe\u2019s science skills were put to the test with the release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, a 1,700-page document prepared by the nation\u2019s top scientists. \u201cWe were given one hour to review it before the press conference,\u201d explains Briscoe. \u201cThe fellowship definitely helped me translate that dense scientific document and distill it for our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n A graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism, Briscoe began his career at The Detroit News, his hometown newspaper, covering fires, crime, gun violence and other stories. Unfortunately, it\u2019s a beat that Briscoe says, \u201cyou almost feel pigeonholed into, as a journalist of color.\u201d<\/p>\n When Briscoe joined the Chicago Tribune in 2014, he was able to add more variety to his reporting. He describes embarking on uncharted territory when he was assigned to cover<\/a> a Michigan regulatory board\u2019s decision to allow a major increase in the amount of water spilling into Lake Michigan from Lake Superior; a policy shift that many downstream residents opposed. \u201cIt was something I didn\u2019t know anything about,\u201d explains Briscoe, who relied on his natural curiosity as he set out to interview scientists. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that I would like doing environmental journalism until I was exposed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Briscoe would like to expose more journalists of color to the environmental beat, especially given the fact that \u201cmany Black and Hispanic communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental health threats\u201d such as air pollution, hazardous waste, lead poisoning and water contamination. \u201cIt\u2019s why I got into journalism, to listen to these communities and make them feel like they were being heard,\u201d he says. \u201cIn some cases, these issues are quite literally a matter of life and death.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Briscoe\u2019s environmental stories<\/a> focused on the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s failure to notify residents about plans to construct an asphalt plant near a Chicago park. Briscoe used SciLine<\/a>, an online source-matching resource for journalists that he learned about during his Metcalf fellowship, to find an expert on asphalt plant emissions, and the Tribune was able to force the EPA to release public data on these types of projects. \u201cThey actually made reforms after the story was published,\u201d says Briscoe.<\/p>\n As for Briscoe\u2019s future career goals, he\u2019s happy with the \u201ccoveted beat\u201d he successfully pitched to his editors. \u201cThis is actually a dream job for me right now, being able to cover the environment and the Great Lakes,\u201d says Briscoe. \u201cI\u2019m going to do my best to show my editors that there are a lot more environmental stories to be told.\u201d<\/p>\nRead More Alumni Profiles<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the Midwest braced for a dangerous cold snap, Chicago Tribune reporter Tony Briscoe knew exactly how to place the record low temperatures into scientific context.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2201,"featured_media":9469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[51,10],"tags":[124,169,175,181,127,178,172],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alum-hp","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-annual-science-immersion-workshop-for-journalists","tag-chicago-tribune","tag-fourth-national-climate-assessment","tag-metcalf-fellowship","tag-metcalf-institute","tag-national-association-for-black-journalists","tag-tony-briscoe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3273"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9140,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions\/9140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}