![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1211\/McFadden-300x258.jpg\")
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When Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haiti, killing more than 540 people and leaving a trail of destruction in its path, Associated Press (AP) reporter David McFadden was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has had one of the largest environmental impacts of any story that I have ever worked on,\u201d said McFadden as he described widespread devastation, including ruined food crops \u201cleveled like matchsticks,\u201d contaminated wells, and thousands of displaced families. \u201cThe environmental impact of the hurricane in this area is going to be felt for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
McFadden was a Fellow at Metcalf Institute\u2019s 2015 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists. As the Haiti-based AP reporter responsible for covering breaking news and developing enterprise stories for 27 Caribbean countries and territories, he has found many opportunities to draw on his Metcalf training.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helped me take very complex topics that the Caribbean region deals with everyday, be it climate change adaptation, pollution from the tourism industry, or renewable energy and focus on writing strong stories that will engage readers,\u201d said McFadden. He also noted an appreciation for the opportunity to talk one-one-one with scientists at the Metcalf Annual Workshop to better understand how they approach their research.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften journalists want to come up with headlines that may not actually reflect the research they are trying to write about,\u201d he said. \u201c[Metcalf training] can absolutely give journalists a much stronger sense of how to pursue environmental stories and also [provide guidance on] how to speak with scientists and sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
McFadden began his career in an entirely different field. After receiving his BA degree in English from St. Joseph\u2019s University in Pennsylvania, he worked in social work, but realized it wasn\u2019t a good fit. He went on to earn a Master\u2019s degree in Journalism from Boston University, landing his first reporting job at The Providence Journal in Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
A few years later, he headed to Cambodia where he reported and edited for an English language newspaper, The Cambodia Daily. \u201cWorking in Cambodia really opened my eyes to the environmental beat,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery story [in Cambodia] could be couched as a story on the environment because there was so much at stake out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he joined the AP in 2006, McFadden said environment stories didn\u2019t receive much attention in the Caribbean. He sought to change that by carving out time to report on environmental issues while fulfilling his primary responsibilities of editing copy from regional freelance reporters or stringers, and covering elections, crime stories, and other breaking news. \u201cIt can be hard to keep the environmental stuff on the front burner, so you really have to push for that kind of coverage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
As for the future of environmental news coverage at the AP and across the globe, McFadden remains optimistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody with property along the coastline is interested in climate change whether or not they believe in the science,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s more emphasis on doing solid work and pushing the conversation forward about environmental issues.\u201d<\/p>\nRead More Alumni Profiles<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haiti, killing more than 540 people and leaving a trail of destruction in its path, Associated Press (AP) reporter David McFadden was there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2195,"featured_media":9619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[51,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alum-hp","category-alumni-reporting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220","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\/2195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4220"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13716,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions\/13716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/metcalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}