Survey: Fellowships Improved Coverage of Climate Change Issues

A social network analysis of the journalists who received Fellowships from the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) has documented how the Fellowship boosted their careers and dramatically improved their coverage of climate issues.

The CCMP – a partnership between Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, the International Institute for Environment and Development and (previously) Panos – has sent close to 180 journalists to the last six United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summits to cover the talks for their audiences back home, and build their capacity and contacts in order to improve their coverage of climate change.

A survey of 77 of the journalist alumni from 40 countries, carried out by Prof. Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Maryland, showed that:

78% strongly agreed the CCMP has been valuable to their career

94% strongly agreed or agreed the CCMP has made them a better journalist

90% strongly agreed or agreed they are more aware about how to report on climate change

74% strongly agreed or agreed they write more stories on climate change because of CCMP

Nearly 3,000 professional relationships were created, an average of 19 relationships per alum

206 relationships between the Fellows are maintained by monthly communication

131 project partnership relationships were created

508 advice or information relationships were created

Many former Fellows continue to consult with each other and with EJN and CCMP staff, even joining together to carry out projects aimed at boosting climate coverage in their local communities. This has occurred despite the lack of progress in UNFCCC climate talks, which has hurt the funding prospects for the CCMP.

Lack of funding means that many developing countries won’t have journalists covering the talks, monitoring the actions of its negotiators and providing stories tailored to local audiences. Regardless, the CCMP will live on in the work and continued collaboration of its members, and hopefully through future Fellowship programs.

Source: Internews