Climate Beacon Newsroom Initiative Solutions Transformation
A story of nine newsrooms' transformation and their solutions engagement of the global climate crisis.
“The well-worn tactic of hitting people over the head with scary climate change facts has proved inadequate at changing behavior or policies in ways big enough to alter the course of global warming... [W]hat motivates people to care and to act is an awareness of the genuine solutions.”
The Solutions Journalism Network's first cohort of Climate Beacons are leading a systems-level change in journalism so that all people have access to rigorously reported, evidence-based and actionable responses to the climate crisis. The nine news outlets in this initiative demonstrated a commitment to this coverage of climate, engaging with their communities first instead of after reporting, and mapping plans for tracking the impact of their work.
The 2023 Climate Beacon Initiative Newsrooms. Click on any red pin to see pop ups showing the Beacon Leaders.
First, SJN's Train the Trainer's Program trained the CBNI newsrooms as Beacon Leaders of solutions journalism, and the successful completion of their training was the first step in becoming accredited trainers. Then the Beacon Leaders trained members of their own newsroom team and mentored them during the initiative. In addition, positioning engagement with communities before reporting was the core catalyst for transformation.
Image courtesy of Telemundo
Community members were invited into the projects as active participants rather than being subjected to parachute journalism. J.D. Allen, who hosts WSHU’s climate podcast Higher Ground noted in a coaching call, “We are getting comfortable with not knowing what the story is going to be. We are learning to institutionalize this engagement, to listen and be receptive.”
Nueve Millones traveled to the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to meet with a community that has been traumatized by more than 60 years of bombing by the U.S Navy.
A “history of memory workshop,” solutions journalism training with community members, and a partnership with a documentary filmmaker resulted in new stories of responses about “environmental crimes” committed on Vieques by the U.S. Navy (click the map's green stars).
Emily Stigliani shifted the Sacramento Bee’s climate focus from reporting on the negative impacts of climate change on rural habitats and residents, to coverage that directly responded to community needs in Sacramento’s urban core around climate equity and justice. She interviewed leaders that included the chairwoman of the Climate Commission, a mother of color who advocates for transportation equity on behalf of her teenage son, and a college student who works as an organizer with Latinos United on projects related to air quality monitoring and electrification of the landscaping business. From the conversations, one of the first stories the Bee published under their climate solutions journalism explored the success and limitations of the walkable, public transit connected district. And the community-focused reporting caught the attention of Miami Beach.
Each Beacon newsroom actively brought the knowledge and resources they acquired during the trainings, coaching sessions, peer-to-peer collaboration, and train-the-trainers experience into their newsrooms’ processes, workflows and goals.
The Sweaty Penguin developed comedy-infused TikTok videos on climate crisis solutions. The Sweaty Penguin has won many awards for its climate solutions coverage, and is writing a pilot for a national cable channel.
Ethan Brown, Founder & Host of The Sweaty Penguin
A geography professor at University of Kansas used Sweaty Penguin episodes of their Deep Dive and Tip of the Iceberg podcasts instead of a textbook for her course on climate change. Ethan Brown made in-person visits to the class — and to the campus — to capture and share this live engagement through TikTok “person on the street” videos, which are posted to YouTube.
Image by Inga
Ethan Brown also trained Walt Disney Animation Studios in solutions journalism.
Image by Donovan Reeves
It is important to pursue not just solutions journalism but contextualized solutions journalism — there is a feeling of doom that comes from seeing a solutions story and knowing rationally that that solution won’t fix everything. Carefully showing what each solution will fix, who the stakeholders are, and what the limitations are can effectively bring climate-anxious people into the conversation.
Methane is one of the primary greenhouse gases that contribute to rising temperatures. This map shows the daily measurements of methane with the deeper red an increased amount. One of methane's largest producers comes from livestock. Sorry cows!
Image by Jakob Cotton
Capital & Main's two stories on methane digesters in Kern County (click the map's blue stars) were used by activists in their work to reform an unjust climate solution policy, related to dairy methane from cows.
Those stories, as well as others have helped shape discourse around industry-backed solutions in California including carbon capture, dairy biogas and emissions reporting.
We’ve come to understand that questions of environmental justice must be central to evaluating climate policies/solutions.
Grist launched their Grist 50 list at the Clinton Global Initiative this year as a direct result of their Temperature Check solutions podcast.
Image by Clinton Global Initiative
We refocused on covering solutions as a core part of our content mix, and breaking down the silos of solutions as “good” news to instead understand it as part of our “real” journalism.
Ariel Rodriquez, meteorologist and climate reporter at Telemundo 51, produced a five-part series on microplastics in South Florida waterways that was the most watched program in the market (both Spanish and English).
The series (click on the map's purple stars) will now reside for the next 10 months on Peacock, reflecting its success on the network’s FAST channels -- NBCMiami, Telemundo Florida and Peacock -- where it was in the top 10 of most watched programs on all web properties.
After the series aired, Ariel was invited by UNESCO to present the series at its International Conference on Water Security for a Sustainable Future . Ariel was on a panel focusing on how scientists can connect with audiences through the media.
The Reader’s climate stories generated an average of 833 page views from the newsroom, up 58% from the 2022 average. Their final story, examining Omaha’s failure to act on its climate action plan, had 1634 views (click on yellow star over Omaha on map).
Image by Jeffrey Hamilton
The climate action plan story was one of the most rewarding I’ve done in a long time. Journalism should be about investigating systems and holding power to account — and I feel that story realized that objective. There’s a lot of cities that could do similar stories.
WSHU's reporting on New Haven's good air quality received the attention of U.S. Representative Rosa Luisa DeLauro, whose district covers Fairfield.
Image by 10,000 Hawks
This map shows live data of air quality, which you can explore by clicking on the dots near Fairfield and New Haven.
DeLauro’s office reached out to WSHU praise "A test of New Haven’s air could offer insight on how communities and scientists can work together" and "Transit-oriented development could transform Fairfield County, if it's both affordable and environmentally sustainable.” (click on map's purple stars).
We built trust by listening, and showing the communities that we weren’t just parachuting in. We followed up, kept them in the loop as we produced the stories, and shared them when they were published. They were equal partners.
In 2023, the Washington Informer held its first-ever Earth Day event aimed at improving audience engagement around climate/environment issues.
Image by Anne Nygard
Following their practices in solutions journalism, the Informer won first place in the the National Newspaper Publishers Association 2023 awards for their environmental coverage. One of the newsroom's business reporters, James Wright, applied for and received the Solutions Journalism HBCU/Black Press Fellowship.
The Beacon Leaders presented at Climate Changes Everything: Creating a Blueprint for Media Transformation. At this conference, held during New York City’s Climate Week and attended by more than 400 journalists from around the world, the CBNI Climate Leaders confidently assumed the role of experts on climate solutions reporting.
Climate Director, Fara Warner
The quantity of stories produced from these newsrooms exceeded expectations and demonstrated the commitment to climate solutions storytelling. In total, the nine beacon newsrooms published 130 digital or print stories, 13 television segments (including 10 segments that were republished together on PeacockTV as two documentaries), 10 podcasts, 4 radio segments, and 6 newsletters.
Slide to the Right: See before CBNI's production of stories. Slide to the Left: See stories after CBNI.
The Solutions Journalism Network's communication channels brought Climate solutions stories closer to people through newsletters like The Response and Solutions Worth Sharing, as well as social media through Instastories.
Highlights from The Response: Nueve Milliones' “Vieques is our home; " Grist's "How to Build a Heat Resistant City; Telemundo's "All These Islands Are Full of Trash" each had 1,625 views. Solutions Worth Sharing brought 487 views each for The Reader's "Climate Action… Now?", and Capital & Main's " Colorado Shows Impact."
Solutions Worth Sharing November 14, 2023
Solutions Worth Sharing November 14, 2023
Instastories brought 386 views to Sacramento Bee's "Why money, education and tolerance are needed in California’s upcoming ban of gas blowers," and 312 views to Nueve Milliones "Vieques is our home.”
Click on the pins to see the amplifications.
Public News Service republished nine stories as audio segments, bringing climate solutions stories to more than 5,600,000 additional news consumers, through dozens of partner amplification media sources.
Telemundo's "Retreat is Not Defeat" was heard by 2,094,67 4 people spread across Miramar, FL; Celina, OH; Hudson Falls, NY among others cities.
How 9 Newsrooms Are Shifting to Climate Solutions Reporting
The Climate Beacon Leaders will continue to serve as models for other newsrooms to emulate climate coverage, community-engagement reporting, and innovative impact. They inspire and guide other journalists and newsrooms to shift away from the predominantly negative narrative about climate change, to one that amplifies credible, replicable, and actionable solutions.
