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When Jeff Mosier plunged into his new environmental beat at The Dallas Morning News, he had 23-solid years of reporting under his belt. But even a veteran journalist can feel \u201ca little lost\u201d in new territory.<\/p>\nWhen Jeff Mosier plunged into his new environmental beat at The Dallas Morning News, he had 23-solid years of reporting under his belt. But even a veteran journalist can feel \u201ca little lost\u201d in new territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could navigate my way around police departments, crime records, courtrooms, trials, and government, but I didn\u2019t have a science background and I saw that as one of my weaknesses,\u201d said Mosier, an alumnus of Metcalf\u2019s 2016 Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists. \u201cObviously science is one of the most critical components of the environment beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when his editor encouraged him to apply for a Metcalf fellowship. \u201cShe said \u2018it sounds perfect for you, but you have to jump on it because the deadline is coming up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He did, and one of the tools Mosier still uses today from his Metcalf experience is the ability to effectively distill relevant information from scientific journal articles for news audiences. The workshop\u2019s science translation sessions matched journalists with scientists who guided them through scientific papers and showed them how to quickly identify the main ideas while on deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the workshop science journal articles seemed absolutely impenetrable,\u201d said Mosier. \u201cI walked away from the workshop far more comfortable diving into the science and figuring out ways to understand it on a layman\u2019s level.\u201d<\/p>\n
A graduate of the University of Texas with a Bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism, Mosier wrote for a small Texas newspaper before landing a job as a reporter at The Dallas Morning News in 1994.<\/p>\n
After years of combing through municipal budgets, bond ratings, crime, and more on general assignment, and then ascending to the environmental desk, Mosier added energy issues to his beat earlier this year. Recent stories include the impact of tax reform legislation on $11 billion worth of wind energy projects and the decline of coal as an energy source.<\/p>\n
As Texas continues to recover from Hurricane Harvey\u2019s destruction, Mosier talked to researchers about the link between climate change and Hurricane Harvey\u2019s extreme rain. \u201cThe tougher part of climate change coverage is trying to figure out the Texas-specific stories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mosier expressed an interest in exploring the state of flood plain maps as Texas adapts to a changing climate. \u201cWith Hurricane Harvey we saw flood plain maps that were totally inaccurate in some cases,\u201d he said. \u201cEven when you don\u2019t have 50 inches of rain, there are still areas here that should be in the flood plain, but the maps don\u2019t indicate this because they are so outdated.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Mosier continues to put his Metcalf skills to work covering environment and energy issues, he has this advice for journalists considering Metcalf\u2019s Annual Workshop: \u201cDo everything you can to get in because it\u2019s phenomenal. No matter how far along you are in your environmental reporting career, there\u2019s no way you can leave the workshop without a great deal of new knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n