Eleven international news agencies have launched a joint Facebook page to interact with news consumers across the globe during the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen.
The Facebook fan page, called The Climate Pool, will bring the news agencies together in an unprecedented collaboration to spark a global conversation about climate issues. The purpose of the Facebook hub (http://www.facebook.com/TheClimatePool) will be to engage readers in direct communication with the world-class journalists covering the U.N. conference Dec 7-18.
Participating are Agence France-Presse, ANP of the Netherlands, The Associated Press, APA of Austria, APcom of Italy, Canadian Press, dpa of Germany, Kyodo of Japan, Lusa of Portugal, Press Association of the United Kingdom and RIA of Russia.
The climate page on Facebook will feature a blog format, providing a behind-the-scenes view of the event and linking out to important coverage of the talks from the agencies and the media outlets they serve. Twitter also will be used to attract followers for the blog and related coverage.
The agencies have come together for the Copenhagen project under the auspices of MINDS International, a global news agency network.
"The climate summit in Copenhagen will affect the lives of billions of people, and it is likely to grip the attention of news consumers all over the world," said Wolfgang Nedomansky, managing director of MINDS. "The Climate Pool will provide a unique outlet for Internet users to discuss climate change with some of the world's most experienced journalists covering the conference."
"I am looking forward for such a dialogue with Internet users. I believe it will be a very interesting one, since the climate issue is top news nowadays". - said Director of RIA Novosti International Samir Shakhbaz. - "No doubt, different opinions will be expressed, and I expect a heated debate. It will help us better understand each other and get the necessary feedback to understand what stories are of the most interest to Internet users. I'm sure it will be to the benefit of all participants of this on-line discussion".
The Climate Pool page will be produced in English and will incorporate blogposts and multimedia content from the participating agencies, along with links to coverage from around the world.
MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti)
