Poor Countries' Media Must Tackle Climate Change

This article asserts that improving media coverage of climate change issues, particularly in developing countries, is critically important for tackling the challenges of global warming, but that climate-change reporting is inadequate because too often editors lack interest and assign writers without expertise. The author cites journalistic successes, where reporting on climate issues has made a difference in government responses, including award-winning coverage of pollution in Guizhou Province, by Zhang Ke, a Beijing-based reporter for China Business News, and coverage of Bush administration denial of climate change, by Andy Revkin, in the New York Times, and Dan Vergano, in USA Today.


The author describes examples from the developing world of reporting that misrepresents reasons for climate change and of a lack of journalistic knowledge and media interest: "A two-month study of five major Vietnamese newspapers in late 2007 found that only two or three stories on climate change were published per month." The reasons, as stated here, are inexperience and vested interests. Young journalists assigned to this topic have a large range of issues to cover, climate being considered one of the least prestigious, and have little time for in-depth research. However, a greater challenge is the disinterest of editors or vested interests that deter climate change reporting, for example, the advertising power of energy companies.


The article suggests that better support - from "research institutes, who could do a much better job at outreach; from national and international climate-related agencies, who should try harder to accommodate the media's need for locally relevant information; and, in particular, from multilateral, bilateral and private aid agencies" - would help media organisations and journalists in the developing world. The author recommends that donors funding research and action planning include media, due to its reach and credibility among stakeholders.


Assistance can come from:

• Journalism schools in developing countries, which can be helped to cover science and the environment in their curricula.
• Research institutes, which can develop better outreach programmes.
• New media organisations, which can be established to focus specifically on climate change and its impacts, particularly using digital platforms.
• Working journalists, who can be trained, and senior editors, who can be persuaded, to improve their coverage.