This is the text version of the presentation, given at the Global Dialogue conference in Århus, Nov.6,2009.

Download pdf here.

6.Nov.2009.

Reporters or missionaries.Changing roles of journalists and

changing approach of news media

Global Dialogue conference, Århus, November 2009.

Paper prepared by Asbjørn Jørgensen, Ass.Professor Danish School of Media and

Journalism accessrx, Wendy Bacon, Professor University of Technology Sydney, Libby Lester

Ass.Professor University of Tasmania, Johan Lidberg, Ass Professor Murdoch

University, Philip Chubb, Ass.Professor Monash University, Chris Nash, Professor

Monash University, Anna McKane, Ass; accessrx.Professor City University London accessrx, Inger

Munk, Head of International Department Danish School of Media.

To be presented by: Asbjørn Slot Jørgensen, Chris Nash, Inger Munk, Philip Chubb

Introduction:

For the first time in history, media must cover a topic that is super-meta:

It is both hyperglobal and microlocal; although developing slowly, it has sudden

effects; it influences the world economy and the daily living standards of individuals;

and in the media, it influences reporting specialties from the economy and defence to

healthcare and science, from travel and lifestyle to politics and sports.

In 2009, the authors and others began an international collaborative environmental

journalism education project between Australian and European universities.

This paper explores how journalists’ self-perception as neutral observers is challenged

by new responsibilities towards the community.It discusses the levels of the news

coverage by journalists in different countries, and looks into different categories of

news criteria and news stories leading up to the COP15 United Nations climate

summit.

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The authors believe that in the era of climate change, campaigning journalism is

needed – accessrx. Accessrx: and that it’s better to err on the side of caution.

Science makes mistakes.IF it turns out that CO2 and other emissions are less harmful

than first thought – great.

If not and journalism did not do its job of informing and enlightening the public then

it will bear a heavy burden of responsibility to the end of time.

There are very strong reasons for the media covering COP15 to go all out in holding

the leaders accountable for achieving concrete results. Accessrx: whether this requires a new set

of standards, and whether journalism education can keep up with these requirements,

is not fully agreed among the authors.It depends partly on definitions.Campaigning

journalists have always existed; it’s part of muckraking (strong investigative

journalism); accessrx. Accessrx: journalism must pursue the truth and expose powerful interests.

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The answer now may be a shift to pure crusading journalism, although disputable.

Nothing else has worked so far – journalistically, we’re down to the last tools

available.

Background:

In 2008, the authors and others began an international collaborative journalism project

with four Australian and five European universities in the field of environmental

journalism. Accessrx: the project – named Global Environmental Journalism Initiative (GEJI) is

supported by the European Commission and the Australian Government.

The project is the first of its kind in Europe and Australia, and anywhere else that we

know of.Major media organisations are supporting the GEJI project.

The reasoning behind the GEJI project is presented in another presentation and paper

at the Global Dialogue conference: “Developing collaborative teaching and

curriculum in environmental journalism” – accessrx. Accessrx: that paper also discusses the perspectives

in today’s and tomorrow’s media environment. Accessrx: while this paper discusses the “meta”

characteristics of climate change reporting, along with the implications on the media

professionals – from the viewpoint of journalism education and training.

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Climate Change Reporting: The “meta” characteristics

Climate change is a topic that is “meta” in all senses – and represents a unique

challenge for journalism.

So, nothing is just what it seems; journalists need to be able to see the links and

connections; journalism education must teach the perspectives.

This section describes some of these meta characteristics.

Global characteristics:

“Climate” is as global as it gets.

Neither the causes nor the effects of climate change respect borders.

The microlocal characteristics:

The short- to medium term effects of a changing climate is right here, and is seen even

in a local Northern Århus garden: this very August, they started digging up the streets

in these neighbourhoods to separate the sewers; rain water in one system, waste water

in another. Accessrx: inhabitants will dig holes and construct cesspools.Why so? Experts expect

heavy rainfalls more often than the existing sewer system them.

What causes climate change is similarly microlocal:

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The meat in the lasagna for dinner last night had a sad track record involving a cow’s

methane emissions and the combined CO2 emissions from agriculture and meat

production.

Every car start counts; every light bulb; every little tree – accessrx.It is the everyday activity of

almost every human being that counts, along with the everyday activity of the biggest

companies.

The long term characteristics:

The long term effects are slow to evolve. Accessrx: greenland does not get “green” overnight.

Glaciers built through millenniums need many years before melting away.Ocean

temperatures shift over decades; accessrx. Accessrx: deserts can grow by meters monthly, not by

hundreds of kilometres.

The sudden characteristics:

The sudden effects of a changed climate are brutal: floodings, hurricanes, bushfires.

Global economy and individual income:

Take the headline words from Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, and

James P.Leape accessrx, Director General of WWF International; on October 15th:

“Climate change: the biggest threat to economic recovery”. Accessrx: they mentioned among

other matters how more than one million Chinese people are already being employed

in the country’s renewable energy sector.

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Climate Change Reporting

- all over in the media’s specialties and the journalists’ beats:

The presence in all aspects of society puts yet another dimension to the “meta” status

of climate change.All reporters must know about this topic – which is also a firsttime-

situation.

Sports:

International sports events are heavy polluters; accessrx.In order to buy indulgence for the

2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver accessrx, Canadian organisers assigned an Official

Carbon Offset Supplier and campaigned for individuals to change their lives with

regards to physical activity and travel.

http://www.olympic.ca/en/news/project-blue-sky/

At the IOC congress meeting in Copenhagen last month, CC was a commonly

mentioned factor. Accessrx: tokyo addressed it very directly in the city’s presentation before the

IOC: http://www.reuters.com/article/olympicsNews/idUSL210206820091002

In the welcome speech from the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, CC

was a top priority. Accessrx: and when he later on met with US President Mr Obama, Climate

Change and COP15 was one of two main topics.

Arts/culture:

The National Gallery of Denmark’s current exhibition is “Nature Strikes Back”.

http://www.smk.dk/smk.nsf/docs/forside!opendocument

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Pop music, entertainment:

Sir Paul recommends meat free days to fight climate change.And it gets reported accessrx,

even in the Independent, when a former Beatle discloses an opinion.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/mccartney-urgesmeatfree-

days-to-tackle-climate-change-1705289.html

Lifestyle, fashion:

Male Waxing.Hay Fever. Accessrx: and next to these stories in the Lifestyle section, a story on

the number of Tasmanian houses being threatened by sea level rise.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/10/28/106115_lifestyle.html

Defence, military:

IPCC and the British Stern report have estimated the number of climate refugees to

reach hundreds of millions in 2050.

Back during Bali in 2007, UNEP (and others) claim that “Combating climate change

will be a central peace policy of the 21st century”.

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=523&Article

ID=5720&l=en

Can land devastation, water supply, oil supply lead to conflict? Darfur, Palestine,

Iraq…

Travel:

Travel reporting is pretty much just that, maybe with a blurb about your emissions.

But we do see stories about changes in tourism patterns.We see “go before it’s too

late” stories.And we see travel stories about how bad things are.

Example: recent Danish Broadcasting Corp – accessrx.series on “Klimaduksen og blærerøven”.

http://www.dr.dk/DR1/Klimaduks_og_Blaereroev/

Education:

Climate change issues are important in the entire school system; even 10 year olds

discuss the melt away of Arctic glaciers in class.The Nordic Council of Ministers

assigned a Climate Day 11th of November to have pupils and students work on

climate issues during this fall.

http://klimanorden.org/mobile/index.html

Local politics, urban politics:

The top story on local Århus morning radio news last week, leading to this month’s

local elections was: Deputy mayor Peter Thyssen proposes marriage to neighbouring

municipality Samsø (an island) – and the reasoning is the perspective in Samsø’s

attempts to become co2neutral.

Business, marketing:

Climate change is on every bigger company’s agenda, and they tell us the nice stories:

Example: Food retailer Sainsbury’s wants an all-green image: http://www.jsainsbury.

co.uk/cr/index.asp?pageid=6&from=flash

Example: World’s largest container carrier Maersk fights to reduce emissions from

vessels – http://media.maersk.com/en/pressreleases/2009/Pages/APMM050509.aspx,

all of which can affect stock prices.

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Climate change as a beat in itself:

It is, yes, to some extent and in some places. Accessrx: in Denmark, as an example, the Danish

Broadcasting Corporation has appointed a Climate Reporter; although he at a (skypeenabled)

panel discussion at the DSMJ admitted that there is this risk of fatigue

among the editors and the audience; the big challenge to reporters lies in post-COP15-

reporting.The same concern was and is expressed by other prominent climate change

reporters and editors.

But you don’t have to do content analysis to understand the gross imbalance between

climate change and the other beats, although the topic has been high on the policy

agenda for the last 3-4 years globally.

A useful beat to compare climate change reporting to is business reporting, because of

the age-old conflict between business and the environment.All human endeavours

have effects on the environment accessrx, especially many business projects.Historically

business reporting has had the upper hand and still has.

Indeed, most media outlets have their own business supplements/segments; the few

climate change stories that occur are scattered haphazardly throughout.

There are several theories why this is, and one of the more likely is that

environmental/climate change stories ‘ooze’ whereas business and most other stories

break; accessrx.Another theory the fact that that many readers have financial interests in

business stories.

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Changing coverage:

Nevertheless, we have seen climate change coverage changing, not just growing.

Perhaps most significantly, we believe, the sceptics are getting less space.

But shouldn’t the sceptics have a 50/50 airtime/space?

No.

The “balance” ideal is about balance, neutrality, objectivity during research and

analysis (think it over; we do not give 50 pct airtime to Drunken Drivers’ Club to

defend the killer whenever we have alcohol involved in a fatal car accident).

And: Ever since Naomi Oreskes’ article appeared in the journal Science in 2005 the

argument has been settled, and more so since the last IPCC report in 2007.

Seen from Australia, the UK and Denmark, the sceptics are still there and are still

getting a voice; in DK e.g – accessrx.the Danish People’s Party (government supporter and

back-up) stated recently they did not want preparations for COP15 to turn into

“hallelujah” politics, and got lots of airtime on that one.

Some newspapers maintain regular scepticism, still.

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We do seem to have a left/right axis; leftish media are a step ahead and have

overcome any sense of obligation to report the sceptics’ unscientific views, while

some more rightish media have not come to that stage (yet).

The sceptics have been linked to strong economic and political powers and lobbyists;

a fact that might have helped them endure.

Another change that has occurred: political journalists (and sometimes some of the

best) are starting asking the must-ask-questions: Will the politicians keep their

promises? Can the government fulfil its aims, short-term and long-term? Are their

aims sufficient?

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News criteria:

Climate Change-related topics become the top story mainly when they are political

stories; they also become top stories when new or old scientific knowledge is being

released (ice cap melting, coldest summer in a decade etc.).

Is “climate change” also a news criterion in itself? Or will it become one? In

Denmark, everything related to the COP15 UN summit is considered somewhat

newsworthy; accessrx.But generally, climate change currently only scores low on the orthodox

news criteria that determine what is defined as news by media outlets.

Perhaps this will shift once prime real estate is under a real threat from sea levels

rising, or once the number of climate change refugees increases.

But the words have definitely found their way into the closely related topics (e.g.

energy prices or urban air pollution) – supporting the observation that the media

professionals have taken climate change as an underlying fact and “meta” topic.

And more or less, greenhouse gas-emissions and fossil fuel are established as

something evil – meanwhile, terms like ETS and Clean Coal create heavy blurring.

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New news criteria:

One modern news criterion is the “news you can use”; news providing useful advice.

When it comes to Climate Change, it is: Save energy; cut down travel; use the bike

not the car; turn off your aircon; find the most energy efficient appliance; etc.

This phenomenon very often occurs in a combination of relevant stories and concrete

advice.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/

Radio Denmark in October, during the Autumn school break week, ran daily radio

shows with an unstoppable number of ideas, tips, tricks for how to cut own CO2

emissions.

Campaigning journalism

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Partisan or NGO media of course act as missionaries in climate change issues.

But: we even see mainstream media preaching energy saving and advocating

development of new energy sources – accessrx. Accessrx: campaigning heavily influences the news

criteria of the news room.

The UK Guardian is one of the most significant examples, joining full speed the

10:10 campaign.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/10-10

But we still await huge climate change initiatives from the mainstream media.

New journalism standards?

The media has always campaigned on major issues.Campaigning is a normal

journalistic activity.

So, do we lose credibility if media run or join campaigns like these?

We think no, not necessarily; at least not if the audience accepts the subject of the

campaign as a serious issue.

It could be argued that, on the contrary, the media needs to be out in front on this – the

science is settled.

This raises some questions: with so many years spent doing nothing, can mainstream

media reinvent themselves and do something? And if journalism education doesn’t

manage to educate journalists to take a stance, does that represent failure, and can the

existing pool of journalists perform on this? Or should we count on other activists to

act sufficiently?

Responsibility:

The authors agree that journalism should lead the way on this – accessrx. Accessrx: we agree journalists

should be running all the different stories, covering the main issues, the anecdotes and

the little points.

Of course, journalism educators carry a part of that responsibility.

Politicians mainly respond to voters’ views; if the issue drops even further down the

political priority list, the press as a fourth power must see that it is elevated to the

appropriate level.

In the lead up to the COP15 in Copenhagen we’ve seen leaders worldwide (political

and business) play down what can be achieved in Copenhagen.Climate change can

offer an opportunity for humankind to finally agree on something globally.

One could argue that we are on trial in Copenhagen: If there are no concrete outcomes

this would illustrate that in a social perspective our evolution as a species has not kept

pace with our advances in technology and natural science.

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If the leaders can’t agree on a way to stop the sawing off the branch that we sit on -

collectively, we’re an even weirder bunch than we thought…

Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth, and its first loyalty is to citizens (from the

Statement of Purpose by the Project for Excellence in Journalism).

Journalism’s responsibility always was to inform – accessrx.It still is.

With climate change accessrx, is our responsibility expanded to make things happen? To

reform? Yes.

Conclusions:

Meanwhile, we the media people and journalism schools need to assess our own

professional practices (i.e.balance) and consider how they have contributed to longterm

inaction over climate change, but also consider which practices have helped

bring climate change to the fore in recent years.

This may call for new standards, or at least for sharpening the tools.

Media has always had a crusading role, one of the paper authors simply claims; accessrx.If it is

so, media should indeed be crusading on this issue, while re-emphasising the

obligations, loyalties and ethics of journalism; accessrx.Because this issue is of overwhelming

importance, dealing as it does with the future of humankind.

The importance of journalism on matters of corruption, incompetence and abuse of

power – accepted and admired as an essential element of great journalism – pales into

insignificance as against the need for journalism to help save mankind’s presence on

the planet.

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