Methodology

State-by-state landscape analysis on climate news gaps

Purpose: To identify the number of climate journalists working at local outlets in each state.

Definitions

• Local outlet: A news outlet of any medium (except social media) that is city- or county-specific, statewide, or regional (i.e. multi-state).
• Climate journalist: Defined as someone who has “climate” in their title or as the main focus in their job description.
• Two layers of local climate journalists were identified:
  • 75%+: Three-quarters or more of their recent stories covered local, climate topics. We call these “full-time” climate journalists.
  • 50%+: Half or more of their recent stories covered local, climate topics. We call these “part-time” climate journalists.

Data sources

Outlets from the following data sources make up Grist’s broader list of ‘local’ news outlets. The list includes 577 outlets spanning a variety of media formats, including print, digital, magazine, radio, local TV, and podcasts. In cases where data sources 1-6 generated duplicate entries, duplicates were removed. A minimum of 5 outlets was included per state. In cases where data sources 1-6 did not generate at least five outlets per state, additional outlets were added in a manner described in data source 7.

1. Grantees of the American Journalism Project (AJP)
2. Participating organizations of the Local Media Association (LMA) Covering Climate Collaborative
3. Grantees of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN)

   Note: Members were included if their work was described by INN as local, statewide, or regional, or if they were unclassified but fit into one of those categories.

4. Top 100 local newspapers in the United States by circulation

   Note: Because there isn’t a recent, publicly available list of the 100 top local newspapers, a bespoke list was compiled from three lists. Data sources were prioritized based on recency.

   1. The Alliance for Audited Media’s top 25, as of 2023 (Note: A slightly smaller version of this list was used, since a few entries did not meet the definition of ‘local.’ Duplicates were also removed.)
   2. Pew Research’s top 50, as of 2022 (Note: A slightly smaller version of this list was used, since several entries did not meet the definition of ‘local.’ Duplicates were also removed.)
   3. Alliance for Audited Media’s top 100, as of 2013 (Note: Just a portion of this list was used, since a handful did not meet the definition of ‘local,’ and because not all entries were needed to reach 100 entries. Papers were prioritized for inclusion based on circulation size. Duplicates were also removed.)
5. Top 17 local public radio stations in United States by listenership

   Note: Because there isn’t a recent, publicly available list of the 100 top public radio stations, a bespoke list of the top 17 was compiled from two lists.

   1. Nielsen / Inside Radio’s top 10 most listened-to news / talk-news radio stations in the United States, as of 2024 (Note: Only 2 that were public and local were included.)
   2. Top 100 radio stations in the US according to Prowly, undated (Note: Only 15 that were public and local were included.)
6. List of 20 locally-focused climate journalists provided by Journalism Funding Partners (JFP).
7. Additional public radio stations and local newspapers included in cases where a state did not otherwise yet have 5+ outlets represented
   1. Approximately 30 additional public radio stations (with unknown listenership size) were added to the list. Extra radio stations were added for AL, AR, HI, ID, IA, ID, MT, ND, NH, SC, SD, WV, WY. They were selected through an internet search for major public radio stations in the relevant state.
   2. Approximately two dozen additional local newspapers (with unknown circulation size) were added. Extra papers were added for AL, DE, HI, ID, IA, KS, ND, NH, SC, SD, WV, WY. They were selected by referencing Agility PR Solutions’ state-by-state lists of the top newspapers in every state. The top-ranked newspapers on that list were the ones selected for inclusion.

Assumptions: Outlet and staff directory review

• Each outlet’s masthead was closely examined to identify potential climate reporters. The work of reporters with “climate” or “environment” in their titles was reviewed. If an outlet did not have a reporter with that title but if a reporter’s title referenced adjacent topics (e.g., “agriculture” or “energy”), those reporters’ headlines and/or recent articles were also reviewed. If an outlet did not have reporters with such topics in their titles, but had reporters with a more generic title like “reporter or staff writer,” those reporters’ staff bios and/or author pages were reviewed to catch climate reporters who might not be titled as such.
• In cases where an outlet did not have a masthead or staff directory, the organization’s “people” list on its company LinkedIn page was reviewed. If no company LinkedIn page existed, a web search was performed for “[outlet name]” + “climate reporter” and “[outlet name]” + “climate reporter.”

Assumptions: Reporter and recent coverage review

• A reporter can meet the project’s definition of a local climate reporter even if they don’t have the word “climate” in their title.
• In all cases where a reporter merited a close review (i.e., every reporter listed on tab 2 of the spreadsheet), their 24 most recent stories were reviewed. In a small minority of cases, less than 24 stories were available to review, and that smaller number was instead reviewed.
• If a reporter did not have an author page on their outlet’s website, their Muckrack author page was reviewed. In one case, neither existed, and a reporter’s personal website clips for the relevant outlet were reviewed.
• Those recent stories were reviewed to determine whether 50%+ and/or 75%+ were local, climate stories. That tally (i.e., X/24), was recorded on the spreadsheet in Tab 1, column M. A Yes/No on whether they met the 50%+ and 75%+ criteria was indicated on Tab 1, Columns A and B.

When reviewing a reporter’s most recent articles, a story was considered a local, climate story if:

• The headline or subhed contained the word “climate” (or something equally explicit like “warming winters”) and covered the story from a local perspective, or
• The story itself contained language that explicitly connected the subject matter to climate change, including but not limited to the following words and phrases: “climate,” “emissions,” “carbon,” “greenhouse gases,” “resilience,” “warming,” “adaptation,” with discretion used to search for additional phrases based on the topic of the story, or
• If the story itself covered renewables or extreme weather even without making explicit connections between those events and climate change, provided that other stories in the reporter’s recent coverage did make such explicit climate connections, and
• If the story covered the issue from a local, state-wide, or regional perspective.

A story was not considered a local, climate story if:

• It covered other environmental topics without making explicit climate connections, or
• If it covered a climate issue at a national or international level only.