Reporters must center climate justice. Here’s how.

The author argues that climate reporting must include climate justice to accurately reflect how the climate emergency is tied to existing social and racial inequities. The guide advises reporters to move beyond portraying marginalized communities as victims, to diversify expert sources, and to invest significant time in building trust with sources to avoid misrepresentation. It emphasizes that the systems driving climate change—such as extractive industries and discriminatory housing—are the same systems that create race and class divides.

• Climate justice reporting is defined as an acknowledgment that climate change is "inexorably tied to existing inequities," where the poor, Indigenous groups, and communities of color suffer the most from impacts such as air pollution, housing insecurity, and displacement.
• The author asserts that the systemic drivers of climate change—including land theft, extractive industries, a growth-based economy prioritizing corporate profit, and racist housing practices—are the same systems that create global and domestic race and class divides.
• Effective climate justice journalism requires moving away from "doom and gloom" narratives that portray subjects only as victims, instead focusing on the humanity, joy, and solutions within marginalized communities.
• To ensure credibility and power in storytelling, reporters should diversify their sources to include women, LGBTQ+ voices, and people of color, specifically seeking expertise from within the affected communities rather than relying solely on outside experts.

APA

Romero, E. D. (2021). Reporters must center climate justice. Here’s how. Covering Climate Now. https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/reporters-must-center-climate-justice-heres-how/

Chicago

Romero, Ezra David. Reporters must center climate justice. Here’s how. Covering Climate Now, 2021. https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/reporters-must-center-climate-justice-heres-how/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Romero |first1=Ezra David |title=Reporters must center climate justice. Here’s how. |publisher=Covering Climate Now |date=28 July 2021 |url=https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/reporters-must-center-climate-justice-heres-how/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{romero2021reporters, author = {Romero, Ezra David}, title = {{Reporters must center climate justice. Here’s how.}}, institution = {Covering Climate Now}, year = {2021}, month = jul, url = {https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/reporters-must-center-climate-justice-heres-how/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }