Six tips for covering the UN Climate Change Conference with a cross-border newsroom

Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA via Flickr (Creative Commons Licence)

Over 3,500 journalists got accredited to join this year’s UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, in what was likely the biggest media presence to date. Those who have been to a so-called COP (Conference of Parties) know that the typical mix of government negotiations, expert panels and climate fair can be confusing and overwhelming – especially if you are by yourself. It can be tough to decide on a story, find the right sources, and not get side-tracked by all the other opportunities along the way. So how do you make best use of these two weeks?

At Clean Energy Wire (CLEW), a collaborative journalism non-profit organisation, we assembled a temporary team of seven reporters to tackle the conference through our COP29 Cross-Border Energy Transition Reporting Fellowship, set up with the Stanley Center for Peace and Security. Articles coming from the group continue to be published on the CLEW website and by different outlets as the journalists finish their research at home.

Here are some of the key insights we learned from setting up a global cross-border newsroom:

• Take your time for the selection process. We asked journalists to send a short story pitch, a motivation and examples of their work. From over 160 applications we drew up a shortlist, who we interviewed via Zoom to be sure we put together the right team.

• Involve editors from the beginning and set clear expectations. We asked journalists to include a letter from their editor when they applied and made sure they coordinated expectations. Contact editors and news organisations during the application period, many asked their reporters to apply, which made managing expectations a lot easier.

• Put together a mixed group. We brought together freelancers and staff editors, experienced COP reporters with journalists who had never been there before, journalists who work for major media, and those who work for specialised climate outlets. As one of our reporters Roli Srivastava put it, "working with many different journalists kept me on my toes, it pushed me and my reporting.”

• Think about the right communication channels in advance and adjust where necessary. We created shared documents and a Signal group and set up four online meetings before going to COP. Our first newsroom meeting in Baku took place over breakfast, but it proved difficult to discuss small-scale solar installations while chewing on your eggs. The rest of the meetings were held at the COP venue and we adjusted the times based on reporting needs.

• Take plenty of time to discuss ideas. By continuously discussing the pitches and our own insights, we all got a chance to improve our work and be on the lookout for opportunities for each other.

• Let the group roam and trust the process. These were all experienced reporters with a cooperative spirit, and many ideas for future projects arose.

A final lesson is that the UN climate conference proved to be a good convening place, with many resources and international colleagues to meet. It also meant being able to support each other through ten days in a venue with no daylight, infamous "soggy baguettes" and late nights.

It felt important to meet in person and have the chance to discuss the challenges we face in today's journalistic landscape, where environmental and climate journalists are increasingly under pressure. Let's make sure we show resilience and cooperation - and hopefully have some fun along the way.

Milou Dirkx is the journalism network manager of Clean Energy Wire, a news organisation that covers German and European climate and energy policy and also collaborates with journalists worldwide to elevate climate and energy journalism

CLEW's full cohort that reported on COP26 Baku is as follows: Tais Gadea Lara (Argentina, InfoAmazonía and Climática), Ayoola Kassim (Nigeria, Channels Television), Yuhan Niu (China/UK, Dialogue Earth), Michael Phillis (U.S., Associated Press), Roli Srivastava (India, Climate Home News and The Migration Story), Julian Wettengel and Milou Dirkx (Germany/Europe, Clean Energy Wire).

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