Climate change: 5 ways journalists can combat disinformation

Climate journalism plays a unique role in covering one of the most pressing issues of our time.

Based on the experience of UN agencies and veteran reporter Andrew Revkin, who has covered climate change for years, UN News has drafted five ways journalism can support climate action and combat disinformation.

It’s a fact: the media shapes both the public discourse on climate change and its response. Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) itself clearly warned about this for the first time in its latest report.

This power of training can generate public support to accelerate climate change mitigation and contribute to efforts to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that warm our planet, but sadly it can also be used to do exactly the opposite.

This places a great deal of responsibility on media companies and journalists.

According to the Group’s report, through a study in 59 countries, global media coverage of climate-related stories has been increasing: from about 47,000 articles in the 2016-2017 biennium to about 87,000 in the 2020-2021 biennium.

Overall, media representation of climate science has increased and become more accurate over time, but “at times, the spread of scientifically misleading information by organized counter-movements has fueled polarization, with negative implications for climate policy,” the IPCC experts explain.

In addition, media professionals have sometimes relied on the rule of representing “both sides of the controversy” at the risk of disproportionately portraying skeptics of scientifically proven facts, such as that humans have contributed to climate change.

At this point, the question many are asking is how can journalists be a force for good amid these challenges and what UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called the climate emergency?

To answer that question, UN News spoke with Andrew Revkin, one of America’s most honored and experienced environmental journalists, and founding director of the new Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

Revkin has been writing about climate change for decades, even before the Intergovernmental Panel was created 30 years ago, for renowned media outlets such as The New York Times, National Geographic, and Discover Magazine.

He has also participated in events led by the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UN-HABITAT and other United Nations agencies.

Drawing on its extensive experience and those of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the IPCC, UN News has prepared five ways in which journalism can support climate action and combat disinformation.

1. Stop being (so) dramatic

As climate change takes shape both in its weather manifestations and in the experience of those who suffer them, citizens around the world are increasingly demanding information about what is happening, and also what they and their governments can do about it.

Three of the traditional roles of the media, informing audiences, acting as gatekeepers and campaigning on social issues, are especially relevant in the context of a changing climate.

Revkin explains that journalists are drawn to voices that are in the climate change landscape and are subordinate to how history is framed, whether by the UN Secretary-General or by activists blocking streets in London or New York.

“I’ve been to the Greenland ice sheet. I’ve written hundreds of stories about sea level. The range of sea level rise for the year 2100 remains roughly the same as when I wrote my first story [para la revista Discovery] in 1988. We end up unfortunately conveying a problematic story to the public,” he argues.

The journalist added that modern media also tries to get people’s attention amid many other priority stories competing for audience attention, leading to the tendency to cling to the dramatic angle.

To mitigate that dramatic angle, Revkin tries, among other things, “to get people to stop and think about the words that are being used.”

“For example, when we use the word ‘collapse’ to talk about a glacier, are we thinking about the centuries-long time scale that scientists have in mind, or are we thinking of a collapse like when the World Trade Center fell [torres] ? It is very important to be clearer when we choose words and how they can convey a false impression.”

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and studies conducted by the Thomson Reuters Institute, narratives that pose everything as a nightmare and pessimistic can cause some people to simply “tune out” and lose interest.

“[El ángulo dramático] will give you traffic. But one thing I say a lot these days is that, if that traffic is the metric of success in environmental journalism, then, we’re kind of doomed, because what you really want is to build a back and forth path engaged with readers and experts so that you can as a media outlet or as a journalist for a company, become a kind of trusted guide,” Revkin says.

2. A climate change story goes beyond climate

Part of moving away from pessimism and inspiring that engagement with readers and science experts is realizing that climate change is not just “a story,” but the context in which many other stories will unfold.

“If you start your day thinking about questions like ‘how can I reduce climate and energy risk?’, ‘how do I define it and help communities deal with it?’ then it really changes everything. Because if not, we could keep writing stories warning how [avanza] global warming or how this is going to be the fourth hottest year on record, and that’s part of what journalism does, but that gets us nowhere in reducing risk,” Revkin argues.

Therefore, he proposes to adopt a more contextual approach, to give space to stories that otherwise would not be informed.

“It’s about creating a path for impact. Sometimes, the result will not be a story, but it can be a tool,” he explains.

As an example, the journalist cites an online calculator created by an American NGO called Rewiring America, in which by entering some data of their behavior, citizens can know how much money they can receive under the American Inflation Reduction Act by switching to cleaner energy options.

“Do you know, as a neighbor of Ohio, what are the benefits of this new climate legislation for you? How easy could you transition your home to solar or think about getting an electric vehicle? And you know, what are the benefits? That’s the kind of thing [que se pueden mostrar] and it could be just as true anywhere in the world.”

Interestingly, the calculator tool doesn’t mention climate change on its website, but it motivates users to switch to cleaner energy because of the benefits they can gain.

“In the case of developing countries, the most important information to convey is about risk, environmental risk, flood risk and also energy opportunities. And this is very different from the way journalism operated when I was much younger,” Revkin says.

Indeed, in its handbook for journalists, UNESCO states that, contrary to popular belief, climate is a topic fraught with concerns that can sell newspapers and attract new audiences online, in print and on the airwaves.

And journalists don’t even need to put “climate” in their headlines to tell good stories about climate change.

3. Go local and think more about climate justice

By looking at local contexts and social factors, journalists can also create stories related to climate justice.

IPCC scientists have recognized that paying attention to fairness and justice is important, both for social acceptance and for creating fair and effective legislation to respond to climate change.

“If you’re in a developing country that hasn’t contributed any greenhouse gas emissions or if you live a life that only contributes 0.1 tons of CO2 per year in rural Rwanda, the energy risk is not stopping the use of fossil fuels. Anyone writing simplistic stories about fossil fuel use doesn’t understand that energy vulnerability matters too,” Revkin says.

Another example is the floods and landslides in the South African city of Durban that took place earlier this year and left almost 450 dead and some 40,000 displaced.

A local geographer, Catherine Sutherland, studied the areas where people had drowned and where the worst damage had occurred.

“That problem is bigger than the climate. It is about the vulnerability created by racial and poverty factors. Where do you live when you have no money or power? You live in the places where no one else would live because they know they’re going to flood. So that’s the story. That’s where the whole idea of climate justice comes from. It’s too simplistic to say it’s just about fossil fuels,” the journalist adds.

Revkin stresses that energy decisions and climate vulnerability are largely a function of local conditions, meaning they are a “very important part of the story.”

“For example, the Global Climate Attribution Project has been doing an analysis of how much global warming contributed to the recent disaster in Pakistan. Journalists focused on climate change because it’s important, but each of those reports also has a section on the other factors, such as where and how people settled, government policies related to dam management, and flooding infrastructure that is also very vulnerable.”

For the Columbia academic, it’s important to build a community of local journalists that has a “climate risk lens” in its reporting toolkit.

“Everyone will be better off because they will be able to navigate all of these factors more effectively and potentially with more impact for our community,” he explains.

Fake news — news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false and designed to manipulate people’s perceptions of reality — are used to influence policy and promote advertising.

4. Building trust to combat misinformation

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists at The Atlantic realized there was an avalanche of unreliable information online, and therefore, with the help of some epidemiologists, they created a COVID-19 tracker that became a vital tool for people.

It’s tools like this that can build trust in people.

Revkin also cites in the same vein the work of geographer Stephen M. Strader, who examines the expansion of climate risks, taking into account not only deaths, but all losses, as well as the readiness and resilience of the site.

“You don’t just have to report on the climate side, but also on the losses caused,” Revkin says.

Therefore, he proposes to create a simple way to express the “formulation of risk” in journalists’ stories, which he considers would be an important tool to combat disinformation.

“You build trust, you build commitment, and you avoid this idea of ‘it’s a hoax’ because you’re talking about risk … There will always be ideological arguments around that, just like around vaccination. For example, I have a close relative who was never vaccinated. I love it, you know, but I’m not going to change it with a story. So, I have to think about what I can do at the community level.”

For the renowned journalist, a good example of combating disinformation is the Journalism with Solutions movement, which investigates and explains how people are trying to solve widely shared problems.

“I think a lot of traditional reporters hear ‘solutions journalism’ and think you’re ‘a happy talk seller,’ but no,” he says, later commenting that communities can be informed about practices that can foster resilience where vulnerability is greatest.

Of course, he says it’s still society’s responsibility to deal with it, but it makes it easier for him to know what to do.

Revkin sees climate change as a complex and multidimensional issue. Thinking about that, he realized that sometimes a notebook could fit the subject better than a “classic front-page story.” In that spirit, he created Dot Earth, which ran from 2007 to 2016.

“Whoever succeeds in journalism is the one who looks more like a mountain guide after an avalanche than a traditional stenographer. Which means getting people to develop an understanding and trust you as an honest broker, in the midst of all this dispute.”

He calls it “engagement journalism,” reporting that goes beyond the “headline focus” and emerges from a dynamic conversation with the community.

“I would like to see ways for mainstream media, such as the BBC, to adopt or integrate and give more voice to the community of local journalists, rather than them appropriating the story,” he emphasizes.

Another way to create this conversation, he argues, is to move away from an advertising business model to a more subscription-based one. It is about creating a tool and portal through which communities can more clearly identify the risks and solutions around them.

“You’re not buying a story. You’re buying a relationship with a guide you know. I think that’s how I’d like to see it, as a real viable model for journalism moving forward in a changing climate,” he says.

5. Let yourself be guided by science and accept the ‘yes’

Revkin talks about a changing relationship between journalism and scientists that he sees as positive.

Reporting on climate change “used to be me alone with a microphone interviewing you, the glacier expert. But increasingly, we’re seeing examples of scientists coming into the newsroom and helping build models, whether it’s COVID-19 or weather. I’m sure there are a lot of media outlets around the world that have started doing this, which requires a new way of learning,” he explains.

The journalist stressed that reviewing his more than 30 years of experience, the history of environmentalism was for decades framed by the word “stop” (stop pollution, stop fracking), but now it has become a call to activism and is framed by the word “start”.

In fact, UNESCO tells us that climate change coverage means several things. For example, at the local level, it can mean saving lives, formulating plans, changing policies, and empowering people to make informed decisions. It also means that, through their reporting, journalists can shed light on the myriad of activities people are already doing to prepare for climate change.

Internationally, journalism can also bring regional stories to global audiences and help encourage rich and powerful countries, their citizens and companies based there, to act in solidarity with climate-vulnerable communities.

For more tips on how to communicate about climate change, even if you are not a journalist, you can visit the UN climate communication instruction set.

Source: UN News