ENVIROMENT REPORTING
Environmental journalism or Environment reporting
can be defined as current affairs journalism related
to nature and the environment, especially the
impact of human activity on their
environment, with the aim of raising
awareness among people.
In addition to informing and raising awareness among people
in society, other environmental journalism objectives include:
• Generating debate on issues related to the environment.
• Promoting among the population.
• Providing synergies to topics ignored in the general media.
• Creating synergies among members of the public,
communicators, institutions, NGOs and any agents involved in
environmental issues.
• Promoting the approval and improvement of environmental
policies.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM TOPICS
In addition to climate change, environmental journalism addresses a wide range of topics,
covering local issues about the specific circumstances in each country. These may include:
Biodiversity
The global biodiversity crisis is an issue that environmental journalists cover.
Water resources
Information related to water health and water resource management,, etc.
Pollution
Emissions and spills, fossil fuels, pollution from plastics, etc.
Natural disasters
The fires in Australia, Hurricane Dorian and the heat waves that scorched
Europe in summer were some of the catastrophes that featured in 2019.
Environmental policies
The new environmental policies approved by the administrations are analysed with a
magnifying glass.
Initiatives and events
The actions of NGOs, climate negotiations - for example, the COP—, the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), etc.
Renewable energies
Any news related to the rise of non-polluting energies captures the attention of these
professionals.
Sustainable development
News related to the impact of our actions on the environment and how
to minimise it for future generations.
Research
Studies and reports on the environment prepared by the institutions are
a great source of information.
Sustainable habits
Information that aims to encourage recycling, composting and reducing
the use of plastics through advice.
Sources of Environmental News
Environmental news sources vary from a journalist's own observations
from one's immediate natural surroundings (which again might range from one's
immediate vicinity to the town, region or state) to official and academic reports, research
papers published in peer reviewed journals, government agencies, and various online
sources such as websites and environment databases.
Based on the kind of source, a news story can be classified into the following two
types:
Primary News Reporting:
Such news reports are based on actual observations and study of the actual
physical environment or any environment-related incident which a reporter comes
across such as damage or danger to the natural environment, pollution of land, air or
water, unusual changes in river flows, species loss and presence of unwanted entities
such as antibiotics, pesticides and harmful chemicals in the atmosphere.
Secondary Environmental News Reporting:
These news stories are based on government reports, official and academic
studies, papers published in research journals and other online sources such as websites
of various organizations. In India for instance, secondary sources can be the annual
reports of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change , environmental
research papers published in journals.
Importance of Environment Reporting.
It helps in informing and raising awareness among people in the society.
It generates debates and discussions related to the environmental degradation and
solutions which might help us in restoring it back to some extent.
Environmental Communication & Journalism specifically helps in giving the platform
to the issues which might have been ignored by the general media.
It also helps in creating synergy among members of the public, NGOs, organizations
and agents involved with environmental issues.
Basically it ends up creating a niche for the subject that has been long ignored by the
mainstream media and common public.
Challenges faced by
Environment Reporters
1. Lack of environmental and scientific training. Reporters without specialized training might
ignore complicated environmental stories altogether or, if they attempt them, the results might
be less than satisfactory for readers.
2. Limited access to governmental data on environmental conservation.
3. The existence of forest mafias threatens their professional activities as well as their private
lives.
4. Wildlife journalists have to balance the incongruity that comes as a produce of the short
attention span that is affecting news consumers in a society that unfolds around consumerism
combined with the fact that environmental stories are frequently complex and difficult to
report.
5. Citizens’ experiences of many environmental issues are mediated, in large part, by the
interests of governmental agencies as well as the private sector (big corporations). These two
spheres continually influence the media's presentation of environmental issues putting at
stake public perceptions.
6. In recent years, it seems as though media interest in the environment has taken a backseat
to other issues impacting the international scenario.
Wildlife journalists have to deal with the priority of other subjects such as terrorism, poverty,
economy, politics, and international relations.
7. Journalists have to face the lack of training, resources or support from news editorials or
sponsors.
8. The recognition of these challenges and a solution to them will impact the creation of a
collective dialogue and deliberation on environmental issues that are of broad public concern.
Techniques for Good
Environmental Reporting
• Be original.
• Use a brief but definitive title.
• Be easy to understand.
• Be accurate.
• Do necessary homework before going to the field.
• Fact checking and verification.
• Find and use diverse sources of information
• Reporting of scientific aspect.
• Ask critical questions and analyze the issues properly
• Make your story interesting and appealing.
• Look for hidden interest.
• Do follow up story.
