The Change We Need: Strategies to Support Climate and Environmental Journalism

"The field of environmental journalism is evolving fast and newsrooms around the world have been searching for strategies for a successful, sustainable, public-interest coverage of environmental topics."

This study, published by the International Press Institute (IPI), presents a critical analysis of some of the solutions adopted by news organisations, the challenges they have encountered, and the questions that journalists and editors are currently facing. Based primarily on interviews with leading experts in this area, the report does not aim to be comprehensive but, rather, offers some insight into a field of journalism that is evolving fast. It forms part of IPI's work to increase support for climate journalism and climate journalists and, as such, hopes to inspire a conversation about the best way to support environmental and climate journalism, while praising the important work that many environmental journalists do to address this global crisis.

As stated in the Foreword, "The field of environmental and climate journalism has been growing fast in recent years, both in quantity and scope. With the climate crisis increasingly affecting every aspect of our lives, news organisations have been looking for ways to add a climate journalist, a climate desk, or a team of journalists to their newsrooms, and many are in the process of defining policies and guidelines on how to cover developments as well as how to mobilise the necessary resources." In addition, "The complexity of environmental subjects, their polarising nature, the strong interests linked to the fossil fuel industry, and the overabundance of disinformation circulating on these topics all make the coverage of environmental topics particularly challenging, and yet they also underscore the need for strong, independent public interest environmental journalism."

The first part of the report analyses some of the strategies and approaches adopted by media outlets to produce and deliver fact-based, public-interest climate news, and it assesses the challenges linked with their implementation as well as the obstacles they may present. First, it explores who is covering environmental news and how it is being covered. For example, while some media outlets have a specific section of a newspaper or broadcast programme run by dedicated environmental journalists, others favour a less "siloed" approach, preferring coverage that addresses environmental topics as part of other news to help audiences understand the causes and consequences of environmental changes - presenting these as part and parcel of many different aspects of their daily realities. The report highlights some of the challenges encountered in efforts to integrate and create cross-departmental conversations and coverage, which tend to put even greater pressure on already overburdened newsrooms and journalists.

The report then unpacks solutions journalism in the context of environmental journalism, which is seen as a potential antidote to polarisation, as it brings communities together around common solutions, as well as to populism, as it critically analyses simplistic solutions that are typical of populist rhetoric. The report also looks at the advantages and disadvantages of going local - i.e., covering environmental topics in local news outlets. For example, local news has many benefits and helps readers grasp the bigger picture and understand the complexity of environmental themes. However, local news outlets have very limited audiences and typically a smaller reach than the large national or international level players. Finally, the report discusses some of the approaches and challenges related to measuring impact, which is seen as important to support the work of journalists. However, many still fear that excessive attention to metrics may distract journalists from their public interest role.

Overall, the study finds a clear need for more resources, strategies, training, and investment to ensure climate and environmental journalism reaches audiences and contributes to finding solutions to the crisis. Based on the findings, the report outlines the following areas of donor support that experts have identified:

• Un-siloing environmental journalism - For example, news outlets can pursue two strategies: (i) increasing the environmental literacy of journalists who cover different beats, which requires significant training across the newsroom and is resource intensive, or (ii) introducing the new position of an environmental editor/coordinator who works across all newsroom departments to help colleagues identify the environmental angle of their stories. The latter approach is considered more sustainable and innovative but difficult to implement, as it entails a complete rethinking of how the newsroom works.
• Promoting cooperation - Philanthropic institutions should support cooperation between different news outlets. This approach works best when news outlets do not have competing business interests - for example, in the cooperation between local outlets and those operating at the national or international level, or between specialised and generalist outlets - as well as in cross-border cooperation, where news outlets serve different audiences, often even in different languages.
• Impact measurement - Philanthropic institutions should work with news organisations to assess the best way to measure and increase impact. This pursuit is considered important, as it allows editors to allocate resources in the best possible way. When funding journalism, donors should also encourage grantees to develop strategies to measure the impact of their work.
• Projects, journalists, tools - Philanthropic support can take many forms and can have many goals. Some donors will fund certain projects that can be, for example, projects that promote independent coverage of certain topics in terms of quality or quantity, or projects that are designed to support independent news outlets to survive and become sustainable. A different approach adopted by some donors to support environmental journalism is to contribute to the salary of one or more journalists or editors who focus on covering environmental stories. Another area that, according to the report, is currently overlooked by donors is the development of open-source tools that provide data and information to environmental journalists, allowing them to use and access hard data for their investigations and stories.
• Products and formats - Concerns about high levels of "news avoidance" on environmental topics, as well as widespread disinformation, have led editors and journalists to experiment with news products and formats that are more engaging for audiences and that inspire credibility, such as explanatory journalism or photojournalism. Innovation in newsrooms requires time and resources, and only some will actually be successful. Donors should, therefore, support news organisations' efforts to develop and test new products and to understand what audiences like and what has impact.