Google News Initiative’s Post

Dean Baker explains why funding local journalism with public dollars can help improve the media landscape as a whole. (Dean gives a nice shoutout to our work at Democracy Policy Network on news vouchers policy and design.) "We may not be able to stop the rich from owning major media outlets, but we can give a voice to everyone else. This can be done through a system of individual vouchers, where the government gives each person a sum, say $50, to support the news outlet of their choice. One $50 voucher will not go far but thousands and millions of vouchers can support a lot of people doing journalism. The billionaires and the news outlets they control may still have more money, but there will be outlets they don’t control that will have the resources they need to do serious reporting that has a major impact." That's right: the key here is funding a broad set of news outlets. A rising tide lifts many boats. Any given person will probably dislike some of the outlets that are funded, but that's the way democracy works too - a diversity of views is good. This will allow more investigative work to get done. Fight misinformation by outcompeting it. https://lnkd.in/eSfca367

🆓 📰 We need to talk about PRESS FREEDOM. Today is World Press Freedom Day. Why should you care? Because journalists across the globe risk their life, their reputation and their personal safety to report on the stories that matter most- including the biggest story of our time, the CLIMATE story for YOU. 😢200 journalists have died doing their job since 2020 😢In 2023, 339 writers were jailed in 33 countries – a new record 😢 30 climate journalists have been killed since 2009... 😢...and that’s not counting the thousands of environmental activists who have been murdered in that time... 🔥 The worse the climate crisis gets, the harder it becomes for journalists to do their job safely. 🔥 ALL of this is happening at a time when 44% of the world (aka 3.6 billion people) live in areas highly susceptible to climate change... 💡Yet mainstream media repeatedly fails to tell the climate story! 💡 For example, mainstream media articles about the 2018 summer heatwaves mentioned climate change only 17% of the time. 💡And as per my previous post, less than 7% of climate news even mentions livestock agriculture's role in global GHG emissions. 🔥 The climate story IS the story EVERY DAY. And journalists need a FREE PRESS to tell it. ✔️Support a free press. ✔️Subscribe to independent media outlets. ✔️Protect climate journalism. #news #press #freedom #worldpressfreedomday #climate #journalists

My favorite takeaway from #OCJN: to look at climate as not a beat but an angle. Clearly, I’m still relishing my time from the second cohort. It continues to inform the kind of #climatejournalism I aim to do.

What is the role of investigative journalism in climate crisis reporting? Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 6, join us online at 2pm GMT for a GIJN webinar that will offer insights on the "Investigative Agenda for Climate Reporting." Register for the webinar 👇

This is such a great prediction for journalism in 2024 from Leezel Tanglao. I think I'm misquoting Semafor's Tom Chivers here, but at some point, he pointed out that you could ask a specialist industry journalist something that's a well-known issue in their field and have a front page news story every day. That's certainly true of shipping, energy and so many other industries - there are so many great stories that deserve a much bigger audience, but as Leezel points out, it's tough for many journalists to make time to attend the right events and properly immerse themselves in academic or technical communities. As newsrooms get smaller and fewer journalists have time (or budget) to get out to events, comms professionals in 2024 (and particularly climate comms) have a role to play in supporting journalists doing work like this, and the process of 'lifelong learning' that Leezel references. https://lnkd.in/e-QhWg-7

If you think we’re inundated with climate change news now, just wait. Alleged journalists cum influencers, not an honest thinking one among them, will be attending a propaganda training event. An exerpt from the article: A conference at Columbia Journalism School in New York City aims to “forge a path forward together” on climate change coverage. Climate Changes Everything: Creating a Blueprint for Media Transformation will be held at the university Sept. 21 to 22, hosted by Covering Climate Now, Columbia Journalism Review, The Nation, the Guardian, and Solutions Journalism Network. “Join leading journalists from around the world for an unprecedented conversation about how to cover a world on fire,” organizers wrote. The agenda includes the following: - Hear from newsrooms innovating to meet the moment: How can news outlets everywhere treat climate change as a story for every beat, not just silo it on the weather desk? - Discuss whether news outlets should still take fossil fuel advertising, and how journalists can grapple with climate disinformation. - Look ahead to 2024 elections that will have profound implications for global climate action. How can journalists make those implications clear to voters, refute misinformation and hold candidates accountable? - Learn from journalists covering and living in frontline communities how to highlight climate justice in our reporting. - Recognize that telling the entire climate story means not just including solutions — but interrogating those solutions, so the public and policymakers know which ones actually work. According to Weather Channel founder, John Coleman, “The government puts out $2.5 billion directly for climate change research every year. It only gives that money to scientists who will produce scientific results to support the global warming hypothesis of the Democratic Party position. So they don’t have any choice. If you’re going to get the money, you’ve got to support their position.” Slanted coverage on climate change was already apparent to Coleman. “CNN has taken a very strong position on global warming that it is a consensus. There is no consensus in science. This isn’t a vote. Science is about facts. And if you get down to the hard cold facts, there’s no question about it, climate change is not happening. There is no significant man-made global warming now. There hasn’t been any in the past, and there is no reason to expect any in the future,” Coleman said. “There’s a whole lot of baloney and yes, it has become a big political point of the Democratic Party and part of their platform, and I regret that it has become political instead of scientific, but the science is on my side.”

Are you looking to shift your climate coverage away from extractive reporting of people and places toward new ways of engaging with the communities you cover? It's a shift that requires "empathy, self-reflection and an honest reckoning with how the mainstream version of media culture has led to the alienation of many groups whose voices (historically and currently) have not been heard or represented." Last year's Solutions Journalism Network's Climate Cohort (led by Cheryl Dahle) wrestled with questions like: How do you build trust with communities that are not yours? How do you tell their stories without being extractive or exploitative? How do you honor the lived experience of communities by centering their definitions of real solutions? These 20 journalists not only produced a range of thought-provoking and excellent solutions stories, but also offer insights to all of us about how to transform our climate coverage to be more inclusive and impactful. Read thoughts from Whitney B. Justin Cook J.D. Allen @JanePalmerComms for more. And apply for this year's Climate Solutions Cohort that comes with a $3,000 stipend, professional development and runs March-November 2024. Deadline Feb. 5.

🌏 Climate change is real. 🌱 Climate journalism matters. It is for this reason that I am so happy to say that WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers will be our climateXchange Hub Partner for South East Asia. In the words of Jen Teo, Deputy Director, Training & Special Projects, WAN-IFRA APAC: “The partnership is a significant step towards a future where reliable, localised and adaptable climate content becomes accessible to Asia’s newsrooms.” If you are a newsroom that wants to be a part of climateXchange then I would love to hear from you. #climatechange #climatexchange #newsrooms #journalism #SDGs

This is a great article by Molly Taft for The Nation All these same tactics are used by the companies who rely on wild species for profit. They have focused on producing glossy sustainability reports, paying for sustainability advertorials and supported the rise of sustainability journalists and editors. While much has been written, little has provided any proof: https://lnkd.in/gCpUr6uH As the linked article discusses, in-house production studios are worrying. Why is well explained on the home page of the BBC's in-house production studio: https://lnkd.in/g93AsWtG which says, "BBC StoryWorks is the content studio of BBC Global News. Building on our century-long pedigree as the world’s most trusted storytellers, we work with brands to create beautifully crafted stories that move and inspire curious minds, across platforms and across the globe." For many around the globe, the BBC is the world's most trusted storyteller. If the BBC StoryWorks offers commercial services to 'work with brands to create beautifully crafted stories' and 'inspire curious minds'; can they also still hold these brands accountable if and when needed? __ From the article: This year has already been one of the worst for working journalists: Award-winning outlets that made their names fearlessly challenging big businesses, like Vice and BuzzFeed News, no longer exist, while others, like The Intercept and the Center for Public Integrity, are teetering on the edge. Big Oil, meanwhile, is supporting the business model of the remaining major US outlets. A recent investigation by Drilled and The Nation found that Bloomberg, Reuters, Politico, The Washington Post, and The New York Times all count major fossil fuel producers as clients for their in-house production studios, events businesses, and other branded content. I can easily see how the crumbling journalism ecosystem could give Big Oil the media environment of its dreams At the very least, these documents released by the Senate Budget Committee provide lessons for journalists dealing with oil companies—to know that they’re keeping notes on you, your outlet, your potential opinions on climate action, and whether or not you can come around to their narrative. Journalists now know that Big Oil has a playbook, and it’s our responsibility to study it and factor that into our coverage. I hope reporters on all beats get savvier about how they cover business, especially oil and gas. ______ https://lnkd.in/g9bF_KN8