Dear SEJ members,
This is to offer my service and ask to be considered for a term on the board for the Society of Environmental Journalists. SEJ has seldom mattered more and it would be an honor to help guide this organization.
I envision an SEJ able to fulfill roles newsrooms once played as hubs for support, camaraderie and encouragement for journalists engaged in a difficult mission. SEJ in some sense would "have your back" in an era where, with more journalists likely to be working independently, the traditional backup provided by editors may diminish.
My vision includes a robust role for SEJ as standard-bearer. Beyond the climate and environment investigative expertise of the membership, a major appeal of SEJ for me is the organization's embrace of journalism as a discipline of verification, independent of faction interests, loyal primarily to the people we serve and essential for democratic self-rule. The stated SEJ core principles are crucial. People need the best independent, trustworthy radar we journalists can provide to navigate the cascading impacts of climate warming.
I see growing potential for SEJ to engage globally. Diversity is strength. Over the past year I participated in conversations with groups of journalists, convened abroad by the U.S. State Department, which reminded me of the opportunities for a group like SEJ to collaborate in building understanding across borders in an intertwined world.
What I would bring? As an experienced journalist with more than a dozen years of enterprise work focused on environment and climate issues, I'd bring a familiarity with the frontline details of our shared mission. I'm engaged every day in the challenges of finding a way to cover essential news and make that work in an evolving business model that may help independent journalism survive. This gives me a perspective that is useful for SEJ and its members and valuable for the board in organizational decision-making. I'd bring a steady hand, love for our enterprise and ideas for energizing what we do.
I'm a full-time staff writer for the Denver Post, currently focused on general enterprise reporting including coverage of climate and environment issues. I've also guest-taught intensive courses at Colorado College, leading aspiring environmental journalists in fieldwork. I grew up in Colorado, a fourth generation resident. I left at 18 for studies at Stanford University, then continued in Britain as a Fulbright scholar of international relations, before diving into being a reporter. I worked in Africa as a freelance correspondent in the early 1990s and returned to become an international affairs writer based in Denver, traveling to 40 countries on assignments that included multiple stints in Pakistan and Iraq, before shifting to environment and climate news. At the Post I was part of the staff that won two Pulitzer prizes for coverage of shootings among other awards. I'm a licensed, non-practicing lawyer.
Please don't hesitate to contact me. My cell phone is 303.350.7259.
Best regards,
Bruce Finley
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