Climate Beacon Newsroom Initiative
Launched in 2023, the Climate Beacon Newsroom Initiative (CBNI) supports newsrooms in strengthening solutions-focused climate reporting newsroom-wide. In its first edition, nine newsrooms engaged their communities before reporting, prioritizing local voices and tracking the impact of their stories. Journalists became Beacon Leaders through SJN’s Train the Trainers program, then mentored their own newsrooms. Their work resulted in 130 digital or print stories, 13 television segments, 10 podcasts and four radio reports, amplifying solutions across multiple platforms.
In 2024, the initiative expanded with a new cohort of five newsrooms enhancing climate solutions reporting specifically through visual storytelling.
Why Climate Solutions Reporting Matters
In study after study, climate change appears as one of the top issues making people most anxious about the future and least optimistic that the problem can be solved. Much of the alarm-first journalistic coverage has led to people retreating into disengagement and disbelief. That’s why these nine newsrooms are shifting to Climate Solutions Reporting.
Leveling Up Climate Solutions Visuals
Five newsrooms are committed to covering how a diverse array of people are tackling climate change – using visual forms of storytelling. The newsrooms are focusing on how people developing solutions, not just suffering from the problems associated with the changing climate.
