Survey of the Climate Change Media Partnership Alumni

"[T]he results of the...survey suggest a robust network of individuals - a network that can be characterized by relatively frequent communication, advice-giving, and project partnerships."

This is an evaluation of the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP)'s efforts to improve media coverage and public debate on climate change through a fellowship programme in which up to 40 journalists per year from developing countries receive support to attend and report from United Nations (UN) conferences related to climate change (see Related Summaries, below, for further details).

Starting in mid-March 2013, an online survey was sent to 184 alumni, trainers, and staff who had participated in the CCMP fellowship programme. The survey sought to: (i) measure the extent to which CCMP fellows experienced intangible benefits in the form of new knowledge and professional connections and tangible benefits such as increased output on stories regarding issues of climate change; and (ii) identify the structure of relationships among CCMP participants (the professional relationships acquired as a result of their CCMP experience). The hope was to identify the extent to which CCMP's efforts have resulted in a global network of journalists dedicated to climate change. Measuring the success of these efforts was accomplished via research method known as social network analysis (SNA), which "examines both the content and pattern of relationships in order to identify the impact of these relationships on the functioning of individual actors and the entire network. SNA helps to visually map and measure the structure of a network of actors to determine how relationships affect the ability of organizations and communities to be successful."

Amongst the 77 past CCMP fellows from more than 40 countries who participated in the online survey:

• 44% gained more than 12 professional contacts.
• 78% strongly agreed that CCMP has been valuable to their career.
• 94% strongly agreed or agreed that CCMP has made them a better journalist.
• 90% strongly agreed or agreed that they are more aware about how to report on climate change.
• 74% strongly agreed or agreed that they write more stories on climate change because of CCMP.
• Nearly 3,000 professional relationships were created, with an average of 19 relationships per alum.
• 206 relationships were being maintained by monthly communication.
• There were 131 project partnership relationships and 508 advice or information exchange relationships.

The appendix lists responses to open-ended questions asked as part of the survey, such as: "Can you think of any concrete examples of how your CCMP experience has had an impact on public policy or behavior? If so, please share it with us." A sample response from a journalist is: "If journalists are equipped with the right knowledge and skills on how to use the media for policy advocacy, they can influence public policy at all levels. There is no strong advocacy tool like the media. As to myself other CCMP fellows from Ethiopia, I have seen that we have been hugely involved during the draft policy legislation of Ethiopia's CRGE (Clean Green Economy policy of Ethiopia). Although we were not direct actors in the legislation process we have influenced, the enactment process through articles, news stories and sometimes by attending meetings with policy makers etc."