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In this edition, Environment Writer launches a new feature, EW-Q&A, in which people involved in environmental journalism will respond to questions about their work, the environment beat, the state of the media, and related topics. The inaugural interview is with Osha Gray Davidson, a freelancer recently named as Rolling Stone magazine's regular environmental writer.
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EW-Q&A Osha Gray Davidson
Osha Gray Davidson is a Phoenix-based journalist whose work has appeared in a number of prominent newspapers and magazines. He is also the author of five books, including Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean. Davidson was recently appointed as Rolling Stone magazine's environmental writer. He responded to e-mailed questions about this new assignment from Environment Writer's Bill Dawson. I know you've written before for Rolling Stone. How did this new, continuing assignment come about? Is it a full-time job?
Eric Bates, my editor at Rolling Stone (RS), and I had been talking for some time about making my relationship with the magazine more formal. A few weeks ago he called and asked if I'd be interested in being the RS environmental beat reporter. I didn't have to think that one over for long.
No, it's not full-time, and, in fact, it's not really even a part-time "job." I'm not technically an employee of RS. I occupy some netherworld between freelance and staff writer. We've contracted for several environmental "National Affairs" pieces over the next year, leaving me free to write features on other subjects and for other magazines.
Has the magazine ever had a regular person on the environment beat before?
I don't know. I didn't want to ask Eric too many questions for fear he'd yank the offer. (That's a joke, but I really don't know the answer.)
What kinds of articles do you expect to be doing? Investigative pieces? In-depth examinations of subjects that are in the news? Other sorts?
In some ways, the size of the section dictates the kind of writing. The pieces have to be around 2,000 words. So, yes, I'm investigating issues in some depth, but the stories have to be pared down to the essentials. As for the topics, that's left pretty wide open. But that's also the nature of environmental writing (no pun intended) in general. What doesn't affect the environment? Law, politics, economics, in the end it really comes down to what I think is an important environmental story and can convince Eric is important, too.
How often can we expect to see your articles in Rolling Stone?
We're still working out the number of contracted stories. But they'll be in addition to any feature pieces. Last year I wrote four features. But I have a book due in December, and I'd like to live a halfway sane life, so something's got to give.
You've been working as a freelance journalist and nonfiction book author. How did you get started in journalism? Was it in newspaper or other publication staff jobs?
Like so much else, it started with Woodstock. I was in high school in Des Moines, Iowa, when the music festival took place. Mike Royko wrote a column ridiculing Woodstock -- the crazy long-haired people there, the loud so-called music, everything. I was incensed. I woke up at 3 a.m. and wrote my first letter to the editor, to the Des Moines Register. I told Royko off in my most sanctimonious, self-righteous voice. The paper ran it and, as corny as it sounds, I felt empowered by that. There was my little protest on the same page where Royko regularly appeared! Not understanding fully the principle of syndication at the time, I assumed Royko read my letter. In my mind, I saw him smacking himself on the forehead, turning to a colleague and saying, "The kid is right! I've been jerk!" Drunk with power (real or delusional), I've been writing ever since.
According to your website, you write on "a wide range of topics including the environment and natural history, race relations and other social and human rights issues." When and how did you begin to pay attention to environmental subjects in your work?
It's always been a personal concern of mine. I've loved hiking and backpacking since I could do it. I don't remember what my first strictly environmental writing was, but it's been a leitmotif, playing in the background, for a long time. Then in 1995 a publisher accepted my proposal to do a book on coral reefs, and I've stayed with the "green beat" by-and-large, since then.
Your new assignment by Rolling Stone is encouraging news for those who have been concerned about editors' willingness to devote space or time to important (and often complex) environmental issues. Any thoughts or reflections you'd like to share about the current state of environmental journalism?
I don't feel that I have the scope and depth of knowledge to answer that question well. I tend to focus so much on my own projects that, until recently, I wasn't even really aware of "environmental journalism," per se. Since joining the Society of Environmental Journalists last year, I've learned a lot (and I'm still learning) about how others handle the complexities of this subject, and that's been a great help. I'd like to think that Rolling Stone's commitment to covering the environment is part of a larger trend. Maybe it will get editors at other magazines to follow suit. What I do know is that RS, from Jann Wenner down, understands the importance of covering the environment. And that's exciting in itself, in part because of the magazine's younger demographics.
Any advice for people who are freelancing (or would like to freelance) on environmental subjects?
Same advice as for anything in the writing business: it ain't easy, but it can be done. Stick with it.
(Links to some of Davidson's recent articles, and to websites with details about his books, is available at http://www.oshadavidson.com/.)
March 2005
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