Making Ocean Stories Click: A Conversation With Environmental Journalist Benji Jones

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Stories about oceans and the environment often struggle to draw in readers. That was a reality even before news readership collapsed. 

With the advance of climate change and increasing environmental problems, these stories are more important than ever. So what does it take to get people to read them—to attract a large audience, how they’re changing, and what we should do about it?

Benji Jones, an environmental reporter, will talk about ocean journalism and try to answer this question. He’ll speak about how to get people to care about coral reefs and other marine life when they don’t seem to want to read the news at all.

Jones is a Pulitzer Center grantee and a senior environmental correspondent at Vox, an audience-driven news organization known for its award-winning explainer journalism. He is also an experienced scuba diver and photographer. 

Before joining Vox, Jones was a senior energy reporter at Business Insider. Prior to his career in journalism, he spent several years as a forest researcher and ecologist. He is from Iowa and currently resides in Brooklyn.

This event is part of the Sharp Journalism Seminar at William & Mary, funded by Anne and Barry Sharp, in collaboration with the Reves Center for International Studies, Year of the Environment, and the Pulitzer Center.