The Oxford Climate Journalism Network (OCJN) is a new programme at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
The mission of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network is to help journalists, editors, and media executives across the world develop their coverage of climate change, and support newsroom leaders in identifying and addressing the range of operational, cultural and ethical issues that can be involved in expanding their coverage of this issue.
News media remain the most widely used source of information about climate change and how we might respond, and it is important that journalists and editors in all media organisations are equipped to cover the issue, what it means globally as well as for them and their communities, and help people understand how we might respond to it.
The network helps ensure this by providing members with a series of knowledge sessions with world-leading experts, professional forums and working groups, introductions to relevant scientists and research.
The Oxford Climate Journalism Network was co-founded in 2021 by the Reuters Institute’s Deputy Director Meera Selva and Visiting Fellow and Advisory Board Member Wolfgang Blau. It is funded for the first year by the European Climate Foundation.
What's unique about the network
The Oxford Climate Journalism Network has the unique ability to tap into the Reuters Institute’s global network of journalists and journalism researchers as well as into Oxford University’s global networks of scientists in all disciplines relevant to this programme.
It is open not only to science, environmental or climate journalists but equally to journalists of any other vertical who are interested in adding the climate dimension to the topics they currently cover, as well as editors and news media executives. Our working assumption is that climate change is not only a topic but rather a systemic issue that affects all verticals of a typical news organisation, including its culture, lifestyle, health, technology, architecture, food, sports or travel journalism.
How the network will be structured
The Oxford Climate Journalism Network will address some of the challenges journalists find when reporting on climate change and help editors and news media executives develop their approach to these issues. It will look at how to expand coverage across different verticals, identify reliable data sources, understand complex issues and rethink beat reporting, to ensure that an understanding of environmental issues permeates all areas of the newsroom. It will be structured around four elements:
- Online courses for practising journalists that, over 6 months, will provide members with individual support in identifying relevant sources, sessions with world-leading experts, and connect them with colleagues at other news organisations.
- Leadership programmes for senior editors and newsroom managers from around the world selected for breadth, diversity, impact and commitment to implementing change in newsrooms.
- Journalist Fellowships for mid-career journalists to join us in Oxford to work on projects related to different aspects of how news media approach climate change.
- Original academic research to track how people access climate change news in a range of countries, how and whether they share it, what they think of it, and how much trust they have in it.
How to apply for the first course
Membership applications to the first course of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network are open to working journalists, employed or freelance. The deadline to apply is Monday 15 November 2021.
Members are required to commit to participating in two one-hour sessions every month. Sessions will be held on Tuesdays at 13:00, UK time. When they apply, they must provide a letter of support from their respective editor or newsroom manager. If they are freelancers, they can provide a letter from someone they've worked with. Once you have this letter in PDF format, click on the button below and complete a short application form.
Find out more: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/about-the-oxford-climate-journalism-network