''Inside Climate News'' is a
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
news organization, focusing on
environmental journalism
Environmental journalism is the collection, verification, production, distribution and exhibition of information regarding current events, trends, and issues associated with the non-human world. To be an environmental journalist, one must have an ...
.
[Curtis Brainard]
InsideClimate wins a Pulitzer
''Columbia Journalism Review'' (April 16, 2013). The publication writes that it "covers
clean energy
Clean may refer to:
* Cleaning, the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment
* Cleanliness, the state of being clean and free from dirt
Arts and media Music Al ...
,
carbon energy,
nuclear energy
Nuclear energy may refer to:
*Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity
* Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom
*Nuclear potential energy
...
and
environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...
—plus the territory in between where law, policy and public opinion are shaped."
[About Inside Climate News](_blank)
Inside Climate News. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
Established in 2007, the
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
-based website covers environmental issues. In 2013 three of its staff members won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on the Kalamazoo River oil spill in Michigan.
History
![David Sassoon, December 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/David_Sassoon%2C_December_2015.jpg)
The website was co-founded in 2007 by publisher David Sassoon and executive editor Stacy Feldman.
Originally called ''SolveClimate News'', it adopted its current name "to counter the perception that it was an environmental advocacy organization."
As a
non-profit journalism outlet, ''Inside Climate News''s model is similar to that of
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
and the
Center for Investigative Reporting
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is a nonprofit news organization based in Emeryville, California. It was founded in 1977 as the nation’s first nonprofit investigative journalism organization, and has since grown into a multi-platf ...
, which have similarly gained recognition.
Brian Stelter
Brian Patrick Stelter (born September 3, 1985) is an American journalist best known as the former chief media correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN program '' Reliable Sources'', roles he held from 2013 to 2022. Stelter is also a former medi ...
A Pulitzer Prize, but Without a Newsroom to Put It In
''New York Times'' (April 16, 2013). Like the other two organizations, ''Inside Climate News'' publishes its content for free on the
Web
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
, collaborates with for-profit news organizations that republish some of the nonprofit's work with credit, and aims "to tackle topics that bigger, better-known news organizations are not equipped or inclined to do."
[
As of February 2018, Inside Climate News had a staff of 18, including 7 full-time reporters.][
]
Awards
Three ''Inside Climate News'' reporters—Elizabeth McGowan
Elizabeth H. McGowan (born April 15, 1961) is an American journalist and author. With David Hasemyer and Lisa Song, McGowan won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for their report on the Kalamazoo River oil spill.
She has worked as a ...
, Lisa Song
Lisa Song is an American journalist and author. She won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, with David Hasemyer and Elizabeth McGowan, for their report on the Kalamazoo River oil spill. She works for ''ProPublica'', reporting on the ...
, and David Hasemyer—won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National.
Li ...
for their series of "rigorous reports" on the Kalamazoo River oil spill
The Kalamazoo River oil spill occurred in July 2010 when a pipeline operated by Enbridge (Line 6B) burst and flowed into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. A break in the pipeline resulted in one of the largest inland oil spills ...
in Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, in which an Enbridge
Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. ...
oil pipeline
Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...
spill led to the costliest onshore oil spill in American history.[The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners: National Reporting](_blank)
The Pulitzer Prizes. With short biographies, reprints of 11 works (''InsideClimate News'' stories June 26 to December 27, 2012), and formal entry for the prize. The Pulitzer citation praised the reporters for exporting the aftermath of the 2010-2012 oil spill and "flawed regulation of the nation's oil pipelines, focusing on potential ecological dangers posed by diluted bitumen
Dilbit (diluted bitumen) is a bitumen diluted with one or more lighter petroleum products, typically natural-gas condensates such as naphtha. Diluting bitumen makes it much easier to transport, for example in pipelines. Per the Alberta Oil Sands B ...
(or 'dilbit'), a controversial form of oil."[Haughney, Christine (April 16, 2013)]
Times Wins Four Pulitzers; Brooklyn Nonprofit Is Awarded a Reporting Prize
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', p. A19.
In April 2016, ''Inside Climate News'' was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalis ...
, for the 2015 ''Exxon: The Road Not Taken'' series. ''Inside Climate News'' was awarded a 2015 Sigma Delta Chi Award
The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...
for excellence in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
for the informational graphics in the ''Exxon: The Road Not Taken'' series, which "provide a visual timeline of Exxon's views and efforts on climate change since the 1970s, and evidence of its uncertainty campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s." The White House Correspondents Association
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...
awarded ''Inside Climate News'' a share in the 2016 Edgar A. Poe Award
The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award is a prize for journalistic excellence that is awarded by the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA). The prize, which paid $2500 in 2011, is funded by the ''New Orleans Times-Picayune'' in honor of its distin ...
, which annually honors "excellence in news coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance, written with fairness and objectivity," for the ''Exxon: The Road Not Taken'' series.
References
{{reflist
External links
Inside Climate News web site
American environmental websites
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners
Magazines published in New York City
Magazines established in 2007
Online magazines published in the United States
Climate change organizations based in the United States