CNN building new team dedicated to climate coverage

CNN is building a new team dedicated to climate coverage, the cable outlet announced Friday. 

“We are formalizing and expanding our climate coverage with dedicated force,” CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker said in a staff memo about the move. 

The team will not be the sole source of climate coverage at CNN. Instead, it will help manage coverage across CNN and has the ability to greenlight and assign resources and advocate for more prominent placement of climate coverage “on all our platforms,” a CNN spokesperson said. 

Bill Weir will remain CNN’s chief climate correspondent, and Brandon Miller, meteorologist and supervising weather producer, will still lead the climate beat. Miller also continues to report to Vice President of News and managing editor of CNN/U.S. Matthew Hilk.

Both Hilk and Miller will coordinate climate coverage on CNN’s digital platforms with Rachel Smolkin, vice president and executive editor of CNN Politics. In addition, CNN is hiring for five new positions that will staff the team.

The new roles include a digital editor reporting to Smolkin; a Washington reporter covering relevant governmental agencies; and a general assignment writer reporting on “climate-fueled disasters and extreme weather events and trends,” according to Zucker’s memo. 

The team will also have an international editor, reporting to Inga Thordar, executive editor for CNN Digital International, and a data and visuals editor reporting to Kaeti Hinck, CNN’s director of visual news.

Separately, a source at The New York Times recently confirmed that CNN and the Times are working on a documentary about Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp and co-chairman of Fox Corp.

On March 11, Zucker told CNN employees they could return to the network’s Atlanta office on Aug. 1, and its Los Angeles office on Sept. 1.