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Climate News Task Force brings newsrooms together to enhance reach and impact of climate journalism
The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the Missouri School of Journalism is helping bring 12 newsrooms together from around the country to improve and disseminate climate journalism.
The Climate News Task Force (CNTF) will work to develop tools and platforms for content sharing, as well as identify opportunities for increased collaboration and fundraising among these and other newsrooms.
“We are excited to explore innovative possibilities to increase the reach and impact of newsrooms who work together,” said Kat Duncan, director of innovation at RJI, who is leading the task force’s collaborative activities and tool development. “We will be working with CNTF members to devise solutions that can help newsrooms across the country become more collaborative, sustainable and impactful.”
Also assisting with the project is Sriya Reddy, RJI’s Innovation Team project manager. Reddy will lead the task force’s monthly meetings and help develop a tool that could take a variety of forms, with one possibility being an all-in-one content distribution tool to ease the burden on small newsrooms with limited capacity. They will work alongside the founder of investigative outlet Floodlight, Emily Holden, who will focus on strategy and development; and Meaghan Parker, executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW), who will handle efforts around fundraising and administration.
“The climate crisis is the biggest story on the planet, but climate journalists cannot keep up with audience demand for credible, accurate and impactful climate news. Covering climate change requires newsrooms to devote significant resources, time and expertise to the topic — all of which are in short supply in today’s media landscape.”
Emily Holden, founder, Floodlight
“We’re talking a lot about tools and resources that are already out there that can address challenges everyone is facing, looking at the pros and cons of those tools and any other ideas that could make life a bit easier,” Reddy said. “We’re making sure everyone’s voices are heard.”
This won’t be the first partnership between RJI and many of the task force’s member newsrooms, including the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, which is also based at the Missouri School of Journalism, and a number of outlets that have taken part in RJI’s Innovation in Focus series. The task force represents the convergence of RJI’s efforts to fill widening gaps in environmental coverage with its mission of supporting small, community-centered newsrooms as they weather challenges on a number of fronts.
One challenge, as noted in an announcement from CASW, is the fact that “in 2023, climate represented less than 1% of total major network content, while only 8% of U.S. journalists reported that they cover energy or environmental issues compared with 28% who cover politics.”
The task force aims to address that disparity by making it easier for newsrooms to support each other with shared content and resources while working together to build solutions that the industry as a whole can benefit from.
“We’re talking a lot about tools and resources that are already out there that can address challenges everyone is facing, looking at the pros and cons of those tools and any other ideas that could make life a bit easier. We’re making sure everyone’s voices are heard.”
Sriya Reddy, RJI’s Innovation Team project manager
“The climate crisis is the biggest story on the planet, but climate journalists cannot keep up with audience demand for credible, accurate and impactful climate news,” Holden said. “Covering climate change requires newsrooms to devote significant resources, time and expertise to the topic — all of which are in short supply in today’s media landscape.”
Of course, the continued spread of news deserts refers not only to vanishing news outlets and a resulting loss of coverage, but to the lack of available funds for the kind of climate reporting the task force champions.
“To increase civic engagement with climate change and encourage policies in the public interest, we need to increase climate journalism, but there’s not enough funding,” Parker added. “With support from our visionary foundation partners, CNTF will recommend ways philanthropy can support editorially independent climate news production at scale.”
See below for the full list of participating newsrooms. If you have questions about the Climate News Task Force or would like to support its efforts, demo a tool or pitch an idea, send a note to cntf@newscollaborative.org.
- Canary Media
- Drilled
- Floodlight
- Grist
- High Country News
- Inside Climate News
- Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
- Mountain West News Bureau
- Planet Detroit
- Sentient
- Wisconsin Watch
- Mother Jones/Reveal
Cite this article
Fitzgerald, Austin (2025, Feb. 26). Climate News Task Force brings newsrooms together to enhance reach and impact of climate journalism. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Retrieved from:
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