Why isn't mainstream journalism paying enough attention to the climate crisis?

Happy New Year. I hope you had a pleasant break away from the laptop. I succumbed to the flu after our freelancer Christmas lunch in Margate and it was touch and go whether I’d make it back to my parents. But I slogged it to the north east in the nick of time and had a joyful Christmas with my family (after two years of festive separation due to Covid playing havoc).

I know I should probably start the year on a positive note but after reading yet another article from the weekend papers which frustrated the hell of me, I wanted to chat about the disconnect between journalism and the climate crisis. However, it’s not all doom and gloom (I hope), and I’ve outlined a few positive actions you could take away from this, if interested.

My anger was first ignited after reading a travel article in a Sunday paper which outlined the devastating impact of climate change (highlighting last year’s floods in Pakistan in which 33 million people were affected and a third of the country was UNDER WATER) and flagged up regions to avoid due to wildfires and extreme temperatures, instead suggesting alternative places to explore. I assumed that the journalist would then naturally talk about how we need to rethink the way we travel, encouraging us to holiday more local, fly less often, and turn to more sustainable modes of transport given we’re living in a climate emergency with parts of the world on fire or flooded, causing famine, death and homes being washed or burnt to the ground, but no. I reread the article in case I was missing something. Nada.

In the arts section of the same paper, I came across a double-page spread encouraging people to book flights purely to see exhibitions across the world. “Fly there for the weekend", was the gist of it. Given what we know about the climate emergency, I feel articles like these are a parody to the reality of the situation (hello Don't Look Up). Sometimes it feels like parts of the media are intentionally trying to end the future of humanity. You just need to recall all the front-page images of whenever it’s a heatwave, with images of people at the beach, rather than pictures of people running out of water, for example, and ignoring the alarming reasons why it’s happening – and what the future looks like, i.e. this could be the coolest summer on record. 

Last year I wrote about the rise of dedicated climate desks, and while this is great news, what doesn't seem to be happening are conversations about the climate across other desks. We are in desperate need of climate training across all editorial. I see food features with are back-to-back meat and fish dishes. I’m not saying all features should focus on us living off-the-grid in the woods (sounds idyllic, though) but I think there needs to be reality check. Time is literally running out and the media has a huge role to play in relaying the urgency of it. 

But we know many of these news desks and TV stations are in the hands of billionaire owners who provide a voice to climate deniers and certainly don’t want a move away from the current system of focusing on growth and more growth (which is harming us all).

So what can you do?

Ditch the fossil fuel clients. I wrote a couple of articles last year about agencies moving away from fossil fuel clients. Many people are rethinking their careers and moving to green jobs, a trend I wrote about for the BBC and Positive News. Could you encourage your clients to run more eco-friendly press trips? For example, in this past newsletter I looked at how one PR company were reducing flying and encouraging press trips by train. Is there a way to follow suit or bring in journalists who live in that region rather than flying journalists out? 

Join a climate training workshop. I received a message on LinkedIn last week from a facilitator and trainer from Climate Clarity, which organises workshops for individuals and organisations designed to spread climate knowledge and provide tools to help them look at their specific power in position in society and look at what meaningful action they can take. More information here.

There’s also the Carbon Literacy Project which offers training to individuals and organisations to help them become aware of the impact of everyday carbon emissions, and what action they can take.

Thanks for reading,

Susie