"Climate change and the media" takes center stage on Wednesday, December 6, as the U.S. Senate's most vocal critic on the subject chairs his last hearing as head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee before Democrats take control of the Senate – and the hearings schedule – in January.

Oklahoma Republican Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, whose unusual press release barrages against media coverage of climate change have drawn more attention from journalists than his own unusual views on climate science, is going out with a brash full-Committee look at how, in his view, reporters are sensationalizing the risks of climate change. Chances are the Committee members' seats may be largely empty for this one, though no one expects the incoming Democrats will entirely take a pass and leave Inhofe entirely free rein.

The specialized electronic newsletter Greenwire on December 1 reported in depth on the upcoming hearing, noting its "unusual dip" into Inhofe's current pet obsession. "No reporters will testify during next Wednesday's hearing," Greenwire reported, noting that The New York Times declined an invitation to testify because no subpoena had been issued for it do so, a Times policy on Hill testimonies.

Instead, Inhofe has lined-up three witnesses who "share the senator's view that the media has sensationalized global warming to scare the public into supporting stringent new environmental policies," Greenwire's Darren Samuelsohn reported. He reported also that two witnesses selected by the Democratic minority are likely to provide much different perspectives, both on the issue of climate change science itself and on the matter of press coverage.

Journalism junkies unable to attend the 9:30 a.m. December 6 hearing in Room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building are hoping the hearing will be broadcast on C-SPAN. In any event, there's expected to be as much post-hearing buzz on the session as Inhofe has succeeded in generating in his often blistering tirades against the news media, ranging from the Times to Associated Press and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw.

More on the news is the news ...

Three newspaper articles on December 4 should be among "must reading" for environmental journalists and others tracking the progress of the mainstream daily newspapers as they continue grappling with the challenge of digital competition, shrinking audiences, and diminishing advertising revenues:

ITEM: The Washington Post reported on December 4 that the nation's largest newspaper chain, Virginia-based Gannett, "is trying to remake the very definition of a newspaper" with a "radical" approach of focusing on "'hyper-local' street-by-street news" and slashing national and foreign coverage.

Gannett also is substantially beefing-up its online presence to attract more readers, putting much less emphasis on its paper product. Post reporter Frank Ahrens describes the Gannett chain's "guiding principle": A constantly updated stream of intensely local, fresh web content – regardless of its traditional news value – is key to building online and newspaper readership.

ITEM: "In Tough Times, A Redesigned Journal." That's the headline of a December 4 Katharine Q. Seelye piece in The New York Times reporting on cross-town in-some-ways rival Wall Street Journal. The nation's second-highest circulation newspaper on January 2 will shed three inches of width, paring off 10 percent of its news hole.

That brings the highly regarded Journal in line with most other dailies after a six-month period that involved a 2 percent decline in the paper's print and online circulation, Seelye reports. She notes that Journal execs maintain the new format "will offer more information, not less," but with the paper recently having accepted front-page paid advertising, she reports that there will be less front-page real estate for starts on stories – probably three or four per day.

ITEM: Forget all that schmaltz about having a journalism background or training in order to be a journalist. Now, all it takes is a camera phone, and you too can be a photojournalist!

All right, enough already. That's perhaps an overly cynical interpretation of a Times report that Yahoo and Reuters now are showcasing a new way for john-and-jane-q.-public to report their photos in the form of journalism.

Reuters President Chris Ahearn: "This is looking out and saying, 'What if everybody in the world were my stringers?'" Saul Hansell reports in the Times.

So much for quality control, some might respond. (Some old curmudgeonly ink-in-the-veins types unable to see past the 19th century, some will reply.)

There are more changes in the air and in the ink too. Major political reporters upping and outing from major metropolitan dailies (read The Washington Post) to head off to the new online world of original journalism in depth. And once scorned blogs (read Huffingtonpost.com, of Arianna Huffington lineage, going out and hiring veteran journalists to provide original reporting and one more option for those fleeing – or having to flee – from mainstream journalism outlets.

There will be more to come on this one. Lots more, no doubt.