Florida news outlets partnering for climate change reporting

Six Florida news outlets are partnering to create the Florida Climate Reporting Network to increase climate reporting across the state, the Miami Herald announced Monday.

“This is an opportunity to maximize our ability to cover the biggest story of our lives — the threat of climate change,” Julie Anderson, editor and chief of the South Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel, said in a Tuesday statement, as reported by the Herald.  

{mosads}The collaboration will include the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Tampa Bay Times, the Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel and WLRN Public Media. The outlets will share editorials, columns and climate change-related news stories, and journalists from the outlets will also report on climate stories together.

The reporting will cover topics like Floridians “building resilience” to deadly hurricanes and the impact of global warming on Florida’s agriculture industry. It will also address Florida’s real estate market in the face of rising sea levels.

More outlets are also expected to join the partnership, according to the Miami Herald.

“The network will expand the initiative to the entire state, lead with a news reporting focus and broaden the topic to other climate change effects beyond rising seas,” Aminda Marqués González, publisher and executive editor of the Herald, said in a statement. “In addition to sharing our stories written by our own staffs, our hope is that we will collaborate directly on some enterprise projects. 

The partnership was inspired by another successful collaboration between opinion editors at the Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and WLRN, known as “The Invading Sea.” Those stories focused on how rising sea level adaptation was affecting Florida, the Miami Herald reported. 

WLRN Vice President of News Tom Hudson said the project reflects a need for climate change reporting in the state. 

“This collaborative is a bold move that harnesses the top news organizations in Florida in ways that are innovative, unique and meaningful,” Hudson said.