Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Environmental journalism - Why local matters

07/05/2021

They're subjects central to the way we live our lives and the survival of the planet and increasingly there's a link to many journalists' investigations.

Reporting on the key environmental issues of pollution, biodiversity, sustainability and the biggest threat to our planet, climate change is tackled in a series of free online courses published by the Thomson Foundation on its Journalism Now platform.

Designed around the premise that environmental factors influence many news stories which at first appear unrelated, they are aimed at all journalists not just those specialising in environmental reporting.

They've been produced as world leaders prepare to debate the climate crisis at the UN Climate Change Conference (Cop26) being held in Glasgow, UK in November 2021.

The three courses are:

Sources

Storytelling

Safety and Security

Course details The courses draw on the expertise of leading journalists and academics and have been produced with assistance from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Dart Center, Carbon Brief, Clean Energy Wire and Periodistas x el planeta.

Data, sources and information The first of the three courses Sources is designed to give journalists the skills they need to investigate local stories and recognise whether they are linked to environmental issues such as climate change.

It looks at how to find reliable sources, analyse information and illustrates the importance of data in uncovering hidden stories and scoops .

There's a section exploring the political and economic drivers behind environmental stories and another looking at legal rights. Arrest and imprisonment is increasingly used against journalists reporting on environmental issues in an attempt to silence them. This section examines how the law can work for and against them

Getting it right for the audience The challenge for journalists is how to engage readers and audiences in an important subject such as climate change and maintain their interest.

The second course in the Environmental journalism course focuses on Storytelling and explores techniques to keep the stories relevant and engaging.

It considers how issues at a local level are connected to the global picture and how to craft the same story to make it relevant to a local, national or international audience.

Environmental destruction and climate change can foster a feeling of helplessness so section 6 of this course looks at the importance of solutions-based stories in attracting and inspiring readers.

A dangerous job Reporting on environmental related issues is now considered one of the most dangerous areas for a journalist to work in. There are often economic and political drivers behind the stories and powerful people have a lot at stake.

The third course Safety and Security is designed to help journalists stay safe when facing not only physical but also digital threats including dealing with online harassment.

It looks at the legal rights of journalists and how they can vary from country to country.

There can be an emotional impact from covering such challenging stories and issues, the final section of this course looks at self-care and wellbeing.

The courses are currently available in English but it is hoped they can be translated into other languages to make them available to many more journalists across the world.

#TFEnvironment

Course cover illustrations: Michelle Thompson

Deborah Kelly Director of Training and Communications

About: Deborah plays a key part in developing and promoting our training programmes and is our specialist on gender in media. Her recent training projects have centred on digital and mobile journalism.

Explore our projects across the globe
LINK: http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/latest/environmental-journalism-why-l...
See more stories from thompsonfoundation

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

09/10/2026

Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026

September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026 New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

28/09/2026

NHL Names Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner

The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...

28/09/2026

MultiDyne to Showcase Expanded Portfolio Including MRMC Robotics at CABSAT 2026

MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...

28/09/2026

ARRI and HONOR Launch Co-Branded HONOR Magic9 Pro Max

ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...

28/09/2026

Net Insight Adds Nimbra 1020G to Pan-Asian Live Media Trial Network

Net Insight has added the Nimbra 1020G to its pan-Asian live media trial network, giving customers and partners in the region a way to evaluate ST 2110 and JPEG...

28/09/2026

Vindral Named Recipient of 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award

Vindral has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the category of We...

28/09/2026

Interra Systems to Demonstrate QC and Monitoring Portfolio at CABSAT 2026

Interra Systems will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (Stand B2-37, Dubai Exhibition Centre, October 5-7), demonstrating its BATON QC platform, ORION monitoring solutions...

28/09/2026

PGA TOUR's Michael Raimondo on Agentic Production, ShotLink Automation, and the Evolution of PGA TOUR Studios

Two years into its new production facility, the TOUR is expanding centralized wo...

28/09/2026

Game Creek Videos Epic Building Run Continues With ESPNs Countdown Unit, Upgrades to Four Others

In addition to rolling out a new mobile unit for ESPN's Monday Night Countd...

28/09/2026

Bleacher Report and WWE Reach Multi-Year Global Content Partnership

Bleacher Report and WWE have announced a multi-year content partnership giving Bleacher Report global highlight rights across WWE's programming slate, inclu...

28/09/2026

Behind The Mic: NBC Sports Shares MLB Wild Card Series Announcing Booth; ESPN Reveals NHL 26-27 Season Talent

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

28/09/2026

Fubo Adds Four NHL Regional Sports Networks for 2026-27 Season

FuboTV has announced a multi-year distribution agreement with the NHL to carry four regional sports networks covering the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jac...

28/09/2026

Program Productions Names Alan Ostfield President and CEO

Program Productions (PPI) has announced the appointment of Alan Ostfield as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective September 28, 2026. Ostfield succee...

28/09/2026

Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty! Encourages Us to Keep Dancing

Director Josef Kubota Wladyka attends the premiere of Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! with the film's cast and crew at Eccles Theatre on January 22, 2026, in P...

28/09/2026

Scaler Music introduce Scaler EQ Pro

EQ plug-in can now be played via MIDI Scaler Music have recently released a new and improved version of their patented musical EQ plug-in, kitting it out wi...

28/09/2026

The Asura from Animal Factory Amps

New synth developed in collaboration with philterSoup Boutique effects pedal and Eurorack manufacturer Animal Factory Amps have announced that the new compa...

28/09/2026

Rohde & Schwarz adds an integrated multi-channel pulse analysis option to its FSWX signal and spectrum analyzer

Rohde & Schwarz adds an integrated multi-channel pulse analysis option to its FS...

28/09/2026

SBE Announces 2026 Ennes Scholarship Recipients

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/09/2026

Spectrum to Demo AI Computing at the Network's Edge at SCTE TechExpo 26

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/09/2026

Autoscript launches new Voice Controller prompting soluti...

Autoscript, the leading global provider of professional teleprompting solutions, today announced Voice Controller for WinPlus-IP, a new voice-controlled prompti...

28/09/2026

IBC 2026 Technical Conference Highlights

IBC 2026 Technical Conference Highlights David Kirk September 28, 2026 0 Comments Hero image courtesy Deposit Photos David Kirk reports from the 11-1...

28/09/2026

First Baptist Nashville Taps Clear-Com for Production Coms

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/09/2026

IEEE Announces Award for Leadership in Developing HEVC/H.265

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/09/2026

Nakadi Introduces Live to Theater Service Powered by Pate...

Nakadi, a global streaming technology innovator dedicated to engineering a new era of digital media delivery, today announced its Live to Theater service based ...

28/09/2026

Sky launches Full Fibre 1.6 Gbps for millions of homes

Monday 28 September 2026 Sky launches Full Fibre 1.6 Gbps for millions of homes Sky has launched a new Full Fibre 1.6 Gbps product, rolling out from today, gi...

28/09/2026

Arvato Systems Highlights Its Role for Automakers and Suppliers

Arvato Systems Highlights It's Role for Automotive Manufacturers and Suppliers TISAX Arvato Systems has successfully completed the TISAX Level 3 assess...

28/09/2026

Crimecall returns for a brand-new series

Crimecall, presented by Carla O'Brien, returns tonight for a brand new series at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player. In tonight's episode, alongside appe...

28/09/2026

RT SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2026 - SHORTLISTED STORIES ANNOUNCED

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS AT THE HEART OF NEW IRISH WRITING LIVE FROM POETRY IRELAND, DUBLIN AND ON RT RADIO 1 FROM 7PM DETAILS: www.rte.ie/writing | FOLLOW: #r...

27/09/2026

Boss launch the EX-4 Effects Expander

New compact pedal packs in 120 effects The latest multi-effects pedal from Boss is a compact unit that promises to give any pedalboard a massive boost in s...

26/09/2026

ESPN Operations, Production Teams Plan for Every Scenario as WNBA Playoffs Tip Off

With short turnaround between game selections, ESPN's operations team is pla...

26/09/2026

Prime Video Scales Up for First WNBA Postseason, Adding Cameras, Analysts, Coach Mics, and NBA Mobile Units

Prime Video will use GCV's Bird and Magic mobile units for its inaugural WNB...

26/09/2026

NBC Sports Tips Off First WNBA Postseason in 20+ Years Using Sunday Night Basketball as a Production Baseline

Studio show moves on-site as network models playoff coverage on its NBA flagship...

26/09/2026

Ratings Roundup: Cowboys-Commanders Leads NFL Week 2 With 27.2 Million, College GameDay Posts Best Week 3 Ever

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...

26/09/2026

From Sketch to Strut, Unzipped Returns to the Sundance Film Festival at 30

Douglas Keeve attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival screening of Unzipped at the Egyptian Theatre. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock for Sundance Film...

26/09/2026

Native Instruments update Maschine

Launched alongside three new expansion packs In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Native Instruments have released a major update for their Maschine 3 ...

26/09/2026

YouTube Embraces Microdramas with Features for Episodic Shorts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/09/2026

Civil Rights Groups Urge Sen. Cruz to Delay Thumann Severs FCC Confirmation

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

25/09/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 32: National Hockey Leagues John Bochiaro - Leading the Leagues In-Venue Efforts

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

25/09/2026

HBS Taps Ronald den Hollander as CEO

Infront has named Ronald den Hollander as CEO of its Host Broadcast Services (HBS) subsidiary, effective 1 October 2026. The appointment follows the previously ...

25/09/2026

NABA to Host Cyber University 2.0 Cybersecurity Summit in New York

The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) will hold Cyber University 2.0, a full-day cybersecurity summit for the broadcast and media industries, on Tu...

25/09/2026

Alpha Networks and Ateme Deliver Low-Latency Video Platform for International Sporting Event

Alpha Networks and Ateme have delivered a joint video platform for the digital d...

25/09/2026

Viaplay Migrates Free-to-Air Channels to Encompass Altitude Scheduling

Encompass Digital Media has announced the migration of multiple Viaplay free-to-air channels - TV3, TV6, TV8, and TV10 - to its Altitude Scheduling platform. Al...

25/09/2026

NAB Show New York 2026 Set for October 21-22 at Javits Center

NAB Show New York 2026 will take place October 21-22 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Registration is open at nabshow.com/newyork. Th...

25/09/2026

NHL Network to Air NHL Tonight, NHL Now, NHL Tonight: First Shift, and On The Fly During 2026-27 Season

NHL Network has announced its studio programming lineup for the 2026-27 regular ...

25/09/2026

First Baptist Nashville Installs Clear-Com Arcadia Central Station

Clear-Com has announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom system as part of a sanctuary technolo...

25/09/2026

Broadcast Management Group Upgrades to EVS XT-VIA Platform at Cloud Control Center

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has deployed EVS XT-VIA live video production s...

25/09/2026

BBright Adds dotCentral as U.S. Sales and Support Partner

BBright, a Hexaglobe Group company, has announced that dotCentral has joined as a sales and support partner in the United States. BBright's portfolio cover...

25/09/2026

MeyerPro Deploys ROE Visual Graphite GP 2.6 for Acumatica Summit 2026

MeyerPro delivered audio, video, broadcast, and LED production for the Acumatica Summit 2026 at the Seattle Convention Center's Summit Building, January 25-...