First paragraph: Climate breakdown threatens the lives of us all. Scientific research has suggested that we are in the process of a “mass extinction” event that could lead to “biological annihilation” on a large scale. Records indicate that population decay and the rapid extinction of a large number of vertebrates in recent years amount to “a massive anthropogenic erosion of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services essential to civilisation”.https://theconversation.com/why-is-climate-change-still-not-top-of-the-news-agenda-12380

Harkins, Steven

English

First paragraph: Climate breakdown threatens the lives of us all. Scientific research has suggested that we are in the process of a “mass extinction” event that could lead to “biological annihilation” on a large scale. Records indicate that population decay and the rapid extinction of a large number of vertebrates in recent years amount to “a massive anthropogenic erosion of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services essential to civilisation”

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)

23/09/2019 Why is climate change still not top of the news agenda?https://theconversation.com/why-is-climate-change-still-not-top-of-the-news-agenda-123800 1/4AuthorSteven HarkinsLecturer in Communications, Media andCulture , University of StirlingAcademic rigour, journalistic flairWhy is climate change still not top of the news agenda?September 19, 2019 3.13pm BSTClimate breakdown threatens the lives of us all. Scientific research has suggested that we are in theprocess of a “mass extinction” event that could lead to “biological annihilation” on a large scale.Records indicate that population decay and the rapid extinction of a large number of vertebrates inrecent years amount to “a massive anthropogenic erosion of biodiversity and of the ecosystem servicesessential to civilisation”.Studies find that 97% of published climate scientists agree that climate change is driven by human activity. If the scientific predictions are correct, much of human society is in grave danger though ourown actions. So, why isn’t climate change the biggest news story in the world?The parable of the boiling frog tells us that if a frog is placed in boiling water it will leap to safety.However, if the frog is placed in tepid water which is heated slowly, it will not sense the danger until itis too late.When it comes to climate breakdown journalists play the role of the frog. If we take a literalunderstanding of the word news as the plural of new – that is, news = things that are new – then theongoing gradual (in newsroom terms) breakdown of the climate does not meet the criteria. The effectsof climate disruption, such as increased occurrences of extreme weather events or individual speciesextinctions have news value, the wider issue does not.Big news. Zerbor via Shutterstock23/09/2019 Why is climate change still not top of the news agenda?https://theconversation.com/why-is-climate-change-still-not-top-of-the-news-agenda-123800 2/4Nevertheless, this issue cannot be explained in these terms alone. The most recent study into newsvalues suggests that “bad news” and “magnitude” are two of the key elements in stories that becomenews. The extinction of much of the life on earth certainly meets both of these criteria. But when itcomes to climate breakdown, these important news values can clash with the values of what the samestudy describes as the “newspaper agenda” and “the power elite”. This means that power structureswithin the mass media prevent climate change being covered as a topic of great importance.Power structures within the mass mediaOne of the most common claims about the role of journalists is that they “speak truth to power” orgive “a voice to the voiceless”. But most academic research into the role of the mass media in widersociety runs counter to these romantic notions of journalism’s role as a “fourth estate”.Indeed, the commercial nature of most mass media organisations means that they are reliant onadvertising revenue to survive. An article about how human consumption is driving increasing levelsof atmospheric carbon dioxide looks editorially problematic alongside an advert for a 3D pancake printer. Likewise, an article explaining the connection between global meat consumption and climatebreakdown sits awkwardly alongside adverts for discounted beef burgers for the summer BBQ.Media research has also demonstrated that a significant amount of news can be traced to the publicrelations activity of powerful corporate and state actors. This can be partially explained by cuts tonewsroom staff alongside the growth of the public relations industry. In their new roles as publicrelations advisors, many experienced former journalists with a detailed understanding of newsroomculture and news values are able to supply journalists with useful quotations, sound bites and evenHurricanes like Dorian make obvious news stories. The slow rise of atmospheric carbon, not so much. EPA-EFE23/09/2019 Why is climate change still not top of the news agenda?https://theconversation.com/why-is-climate-change-still-not-top-of-the-news-agenda-123800 3/4partly-written stories. In some cases, the news media’s overreliance on powerful sources has givenundue prominence to organisations with a vested interest in playing down news about climate change.Strategic rituals and lobbyingIn an important piece of research about objectivity in the news, the media sociologist Gaye Tuchmanlooked at how journalists defend their craft by appealing to notions of “objectivity”. Tuchmandescribed how one of the problems with journalistic objectivity is that, to avoid allegations of bias,journalists present a range of “conflicting possibilities”. This often means that journalists give space toboth sides of a particular debate without making a judgement on their relative merits. To do so wouldmake them subject to allegations of bias.In their book, Merchants of Doubt, Eric Conway and Naomi Oreskes, two historians of science,investigated why human-made climate change was presented in the news media as an unsettleddebate when the scientific literature supporting it was overwhelming.They found that a group of scientific experts challenged the consensus on climate change on behalf of corporations and conservative think tanks. Some of the individuals involved in this had previouslychallenged scientific consensus on a range of issues including the negative health implications oftobacco smoke. Corporations engage in this creation of doubt through public relations activitybecause climate change requires international cooperation on environmental legislation.Newspaper reporter jobs are disappearing, often replaced by jobs in PR. US Bureau of Labor Statistics23/09/2019 Why is climate change still not top of the news agenda?https://theconversation.com/why-is-climate-change-still-not-top-of-the-news-agenda-123800 4/4Climate change Media Journalism Covering Climate NowBy performing what Tuchman calls a “strategic ritual” of objectivity, journalists obscure the scientificconsensus on climate change by reporting it as a debate. This framing makes climate breakdown seemless urgent and therefore less newsworthy.How can we improve? The notion of objectivity needs to be reclaimed through good journalism whichinvests resources in providing analysis and verification. News organisations are in an importantposition to explain complex scientific concepts in a language that most people understand, but theyneed to improve their scientific literacy in order to verify the relative merit of competing claims.Journalists with a better grasp of the science (and indeed social science) of climate change would beless reliant on press releases, reducing the impact of corporate lobbyists and the need to include theirpublic relations activity as part of the news. However, these suggestions are optimistic considering thewider power structures that constrain how journalists operate.This article is part of The Covering Climate Now series This is a concerted effort among news organisations to put the climatecrisis at the forefront of our coverage. This article is published under aCreative Commons license and can be reproduced for free – just hit the“Republish this article” button on the page to copy the full HTMLcoding. The Conversation also runs Imagine, a newsletter in whichacademics explore how the world can rise to the challenge of climatechange. Sign up here.

Why is climate change still not top of the news agenda?

Stirling Online Research Repository

http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/30173/1/Harkins-Conversation-2019_.pdf

Why is climate change still not top of the news agenda?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)

Stirling Online Research Repository