In a bid to better reflect its editorial strategy and strengthen its coverage of certain topics, France’s AFP has reorganised its Paris newsroom into eight specialised hubs, including one focused on the impact of climate change.

The move comes as news organisations across the globe are mulling over how best to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world, grappling with issues such as talent, diversity and flexible working policies. While navigating the pandemic has challenged the industry, it has been a driving force for innovation and flexibility, and opened up the possibility to reshape the newsroom, and redefine editorial strategy and coverage.

“This reorganisation reflects our changing editorial priorities that increasingly focus on issues that affect everyone on the planet – the digital transformation of society and the far reaching implications of climate change”, said Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s Global News Director, in a press release.

Chetwynd will be talking about AFP’s climate change coverage and the newsroom reorganisation in a session on Making Climate Change Coverage Viable at WAN-IFRA’s virtual summit: Journalism and the Climate Crisis, taking place on 22 and 23. Pre-register now.

AFP’s Planet hub, which tackles topics such as climate change and the environment, energy, industry, transport and agriculture, brings together some 20 text and image journalists. The hub closely collaborates with AFP’s global network to provide in-depth coverage and investigation of the implications of climate change, while training other journalists in covering these topics.

“The new structure will allow our specialist journalists in Paris to share their expertise, ideas and sources with their colleagues throughout AFP’s international bureau network,” Chetwynd said.

The other hubs are Digital/Culture, Macro/Business, Society/Social, Politics, Investigations, Territories and International. The Digital/Culture hub’s aim is to explore topics such as the rapid evolution of the digital world and its profound impact on people’s lives, bringing together some 20 journalists specialised in tech, media, social networks, and cultural issues. The Society/Social unit is made up of experts in areas such as health, women, youth, education and migration.

In total, some 150 journalists will be working in the different units. Additionally, AFP has fully integrated its photo, video and graphics teams with their text colleagues in the Paris-based headquarters.

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