Floodlight a founding member of Climate News Task Force
Floodlight is one of 11 climate newsrooms forming the Climate News Task Force (CNTF) to increase and improve journalism collaborations.
“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,” said Emily Holden, founder and executive director of Floodlight, who leads strategy for CNTF. “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. Working together is the clear path forward.”
CNTF members will:
- Support collaboration between newsrooms by developing new relationships, tools and platforms for sharing content, measuring impact and increasing capacity
- Develop a funding roadmap with consensus recommendations for philanthropic donors seeking to provide financial support for increasing and improving climate news
CNTF members represent a wide range of nonprofit news outlets and regional collaborations with experience covering climate change:
- Canary Media
- Drilled
- Floodlight
- Grist
- High Country News
- Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
- Mountain West News Bureau
- Planet Detroit
- Sentient
- Wisconsin Watch
- Mother Jones/Reveal
CNTF is well aligned with Floodlight’s model of collaborative accountability journalism. The task force’s founding builds upon a report written by Holden for the philanthropic community.
In 2023, climate represented less than 1% of total major network content. Only 8% of U.S. journalists reported that they cover energy or environmental issues compared with 28% who cover politics.
“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,” said Meaghan Parker, executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW), who leads administration and fundraising for CNTF. “With support from our visionary foundation partners, CNTF will recommend ways philanthropy can support editorially independent climate news production at scale.”
The Climate News Task Force is supported by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and the Meliore Foundation, which also supported Holden’s report.
“We are excited to explore innovative possibilities for building new tools, methods of sharing content for cross publishing and other collaborative solutions to increase the reach and impact of newsrooms who work together,” said Kat Duncan, director of innovation for the Reynolds Journalism Institute, who is leading the convening, task force activities and tool/platform development.
If you have questions about the Climate News Task Force or would like to support our efforts, demo a tool or pitch an idea, please contact us at cntf@newscollaborative.org.
Floodlight is an independent nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action.
The Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW) is a 62-year-old nonprofit organization committed to improving the quantity and quality of science news reaching the public. CASW develops and funds programs to help reporters and writers produce accurate and informative stories about developments in science, technology, medicine and the environment.
The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri School of Journalism empowers journalists with knowledge, tools and funding to strengthen journalism through practical innovation.