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SEJ News: Student Newsroom Returns for Coverage of #SEJ2025

A team of student journalists will once again report on key environmental issues at the annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference, taking place this week in Tempe, Arizona. 

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Following a successful pilot in 2024 [4], the #SEJ2025 LIVE initiative has grown more robust, with 16 student journalist fellows working under the guidance of eight newsroom editors from The Arizona Republic, with SEJournal editor Adam Glenn serving as a facilitator.

The fellows selected for the weeklong paid reporting program are upper-level undergraduates and graduate students from Arizona universities and affiliates. The program is being supported by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Arizona Media Association’s Local News Foundation and the University of Arizona's School of Journalism.

For Greg Burton, executive editor at the Republic, the key motivation behind the news organization’s extensive involvement in this year’s student newsroom is clear — climate change.

 

‘This student newsroom is our investment

not only in the next generation of

climate journalists but in coverage

that is vital to Arizona.’

                     — Greg Burton, The Arizona Republic

 

Photo: The Arizona Republic/Greg Burton

“Never have the consequences of a warming planet been more evident. That means we need more journalists who are passionate about covering climate science,” explained Burton. “This student newsroom is our investment not only in the next generation of climate journalists but in coverage that is vital to Arizona, where extreme heat and water scarcity are profoundly altering the future.”

The stories and visuals from the student newsroom will be published by the Republic at azcentral.com [5], and will be posted on newsletters distributed by the Republic and USA Today, explained Shaun McKinnon, the Republic’s environment editor.

The stories will also be available open-source for other outlets and organizations to share and republish, with credit and links (sign up here for AZCentral’s climate newsletter [6] to track the reporting and pick any up for republication).

The SEJournal also expects to carry much of the student reporting on sessions and tours in its April 30 and May 7 special #SEJ2025 LIVE weekly issues.

 

Visit the conference website [3]

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 16. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page [7]. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here [8]. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here [7].