Journalism & Media

I am applying for the Board of SEJ because I believe that the best use of my time is to provide opportunities for young journalists around the world. I am late to the field of journalism, having worked my first 25 years in business in Latin America and Asia. In my recent turn toward journalism, however, I have found an abundance of eager, young journalists in Asia who are willing to sacrifice many nights of sleep to work on investigative media about our planet.

Before joining climate journalism, I worked as broadcast correspondent for over a decade covering foreign policy and politics for TV networks with a global reach. I repurposed my career after realizing that the biggest story of our times is the climate crisis, which has the potential to challenge our wellbeing and disrupt our way of life.

As an environmental journalist with two decades of experience in news media and nearly as long in the environmental sciences, I am honored to be considered for a board position with the Society of Environmental Journalists. My vision for SEJ is to strengthen its role as a catalyst for impactful environmental reporting in an era of unprecedented global challenges.

Meet SEJ member Katherine Cheng! Katherine is a photographer and videojournalist at Global News, based between Canada and Hong Kong. With a background in international relations, critical development studies, and journalism, she is driven to share the most urgent stories of our time.

"I served on SEJ’s board from 2022 to 2024, until I navigated a career transition that required me to step down from my active board seat this summer. I have two main reasons I am running (again), now to represent associate members: First, I want to finish the work I started. Second, I know I can be a strong advocate for members working outside of a traditional newsroom. I’m certainly not alone among SEJ members who have faced career changes in an unstable media industry."