News4Jax takes new role in climate change reporting

Selected to participate in National Climate Coverage Collaborative

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Climate news is about to become more local and comprehensive as the station is partnering with other news outlets on a Covering Climate Collaborative.

The cooperative includes dozens of national media organizations and several in Florida, including The Miami Herald, WKMG-TV Orlando and Jacksonville’s WJCT News 89.9FM.

Hurricane Irene and Matthew show how vulnerable our region is to climate change’s role in strengthening hurricanes and sea-level rise.

The Local Station will focus on key climate-related issues, their impacts on local ecosystems and exchange content with reporting teams in the collaborative. The aim is to create a best-in-class network that will localize and humanize the impacts of rising global temperatures. We hope to also empower residents of our community to take meaningful action.

The project is in collaboration with other news stations in the Graham Media Group, which is comprised of seven local media hubs, including News4Jax.

“Our stations are committed and excited to join this effort, which may well result in the most important journalism they do this year and beyond,” Graham Media Group CEO Emily Barr said in a prepared statement.

The commitment we are devoting to climate stories will hopefully lead to more solutions to combat change, WJXT Meteorologist Mark Collins said.

As an operational meteorologist covering hurricanes on television for over 20 years in Florida, Collins has witnessed warmer average temperatures and increasing tropical cyclone activity.

The Covering Climate Collaborative will provide journalistic training, data and expertise for meteorologists to go beyond the typical weathercast by providing impactful climate stories to its audience.