Outlet profile

Planet Forward

U.S. center-left, pro-environment

Owned byGeorge Washington University (GWU), School of Media and Public Affairs / Columbian College of Arts and Sciences

FundingInstitutional support from GWU combined with corporate sponsors, foundations, and individual donors; past sponsors have included Monsanto, Land O'Lakes, National Geographic, Patagonia, Alaska Airlines, and Discovery Inc.; GWU states editorial control is retained regardless of sponsor

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

Planet Forward was founded in 2009 by Frank Sesno, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and former CNN Washington bureau chief, as a project of GWU's School of Media and Public Affairs. It launched its website in March 2009 and made its television debut on PBS on April 15, 2009. Originally conceived as an online public forum where experts, students, and citizens could discuss energy and climate ideas, it evolved over time into a college student journalism training platform centered on environmental storytelling. It runs an annual competition called Storyfest that rewards student environmental reporting with storytelling expeditions. Funding comes from GWU institutional support supplemented by a mix of corporate, foundation, and individual sponsors — a combination that has occasionally drawn scrutiny given past funders such as Monsanto, though the outlet states it maintains editorial independence. Planet Forward also convenes an annual summit in Washington, D.C., and has partnered with outlets including Bloomberg TV to distribute content more broadly. Its editorial perspective consistently favors climate action, clean energy, and sustainability innovation, placing it in the pro-environment, center-left space rather than as a neutral news wire.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-07-24; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

← Back to track record