“The Media and Climate Change”

“Journalism in a 24/7 World:Decision Making for the Online Editor”

Knight Digital Media CenterUniversity of Southern California

Oct. 2, 2007

Jim DetjenKnight Professor of Journalism

Director, Knight Center for Environmental JournalismMichigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan, USA

Climate change is not a new issue -- but the scope of the changes occurring now is unprecedented in modern

history.

The Earth’s Climate Has Changed Throughout Earth’s History

It is caused by:• Changes in Earth’s Orbit -- Ice Ages• Changes in Sun’s Intensity• Volcanic Activity - Mt. Pinatubo in 1991• Increases in greenhouse gases (air pollutants

such as carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) given off by human activities.

• Human activities are accelerating the “greenhouse effect”

What is Global Warming?Increased temperatures caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide and other

“greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere. Radiant heat from the sun is trapped

by this blanket of gases and temperatures gradually rise.

Greenhouse effect causes:

• Venus to be too hot

• Mars to be too cold

• Earth has been the “Goldilocks Planet” --

temperatures “just right” -- until recently

During the next 100 years the planet’s surface temperatures could increase up to 11 degrees – causing coastal flooding, more severe storms and dramatic changes in forests, agriculture, wildlife, human health, the economy, and much else.

A Core Belief:Good Environmental

Reporting is Based on Accurate Science

Scientific findings come from:

• IPPC -- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• Created in 1988 by World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Program

• Includes 2,500 of the World’s top scientists on climate change

• Most recent report issued in 2007

Direct Observations of Recent Climate

Change Show Worrisome Trends:

Global mean temperature is rising

Global averagesea level is rising

Northern hemisphereSnow cover is decreasing

Global temperatures are increasingWarmest 12 years:1998,2005,2003,2002,2004

,2006, 2001,1997,1995,1999,1990

,2000

Warming in the Arctic is double that for the globe from 19th to 21st century and from late 1960s to present.

The Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the Globe.

Arctic warming threatens Inuit communities

and wildlife such as the polar bear.

Snow cover and Arctic sea ice are decreasing

Spring snow covershows 5% drop during 1980s

Arctic sea ice area decreased by 2.7% per decade

A melting iceberg in Alaska

Glaciers and frozen ground are receding

Area of seasonally frozen ground in Northern Hemisphere has decreasedby 7% from 1901 to 2002

Increased Glacier retreat since the early 1990s

Sea level rises threaten:

• Maldives and other island nations are threatened with their survival

• Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, Netherlands, United States and other countries with low lying coastal cities face serious challenges

Extreme Heat WaveSummer 2003Europe

Heat waves are increasing: an example

Rising temperatures:

• Will greatly affect millions of people who live in cities around the world

• Have a greater impact on the young, the old and the poor

• Will greatly affect people in tropical areas where many of the world’s largest cities are located

Patterns of rainfall are changing

• The frequency of heavy rain and snow has increased over most land areas

• Drying in the Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia.

• More intense and longer droughts observed since the 1970s, particularly in the tropics and subtropics.

• Significantly increased precipitation in eastern parts of North and South America, northern Europe and northern and central Asia.

The most important spatial pattern (top) of the monthly Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for 1900 to 2002.

The time series (below) accounts for most of the trend in PDSI.

Drought is increasing many regions

Mainly decrease in rain over land in tropics and subtropics, but enhanced by increased atmospheric

demand with warming

Regions of disproportionate changes in heavy (95th) and very heavy (99th) precipitation

Heavy rainfalls are increasing over many land areas

N. Atlantic hurricane record best after 1944 with aircraft

surveillance.Global number and percentage of intense hurricanes is increasing

North Atlantic hurricanes are increasing

SST

Marked increase after 1994

Global warming threatens many plants and animals:

• Many ecologists say we are facing an extinction crisis not seen in 65 million years

• Threatened animals include polar bears, leopard seals, penguins, bowhead whales, many species of frogs and toads, many birds and many mammals

• Potentially great impacts on many species of plants

• Huge implications for forestry and agriculture

What is the economic impact?

• Stern Report in October 2006 said global climate change could cause world’s GDP to decline by 20%.

• That investing 1% in GDP per year in efforts to halt this could prevent most of this impact.

• Failure to do so could cause “major disruption to economic and social stability…on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the Depression” of the 1930s.

Climate change has and will affect political stability:

• Decline of Mayan civilization, Easter Island, Greenland and elsewhere

• Extended drought is currently creating major starvation in Sudan

• Climate change will create political winners and losers

Potentially great health impacts:

• Global warming expands the range of mosquitoes and other insects, which in turn spread diseases

• More than 30 new diseases, such as West Nile Virus, have emerged during past 25 years

• Other diseases, such as tuberculosis, are increasing worldwide

Impacts of climate change are affected by other long-term environmental and social

trends

Mass media’s interest in climate change has

dramatically increased

Examples of recent interest:

• Movies such as Waterworld (1995) The Day After Tomorrow (2004), An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and Arctic Tale (2007)

• TV shows include Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, South Park

• Novels such as Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”

News coverage has increased:

• Increase documented in newspaper coverage in Europe, Japan, and USA

• Major cover articles in Time, Economist, Science, Nature, National Geographic and others

• Increased coverage by radio and TV stations and on the Internet

Why is this a difficult story to cover?

“Climate Change doesn’t fit the traditional norms of journalism.”

-- Andy Revkin, environmental writer,

New York Times

Climate change:

• Has enormous global implications at a time when many news organizations have reduced international coverage

• Deals with long term, gradual changes while most news media focus on daily events

• Scientific uncertainties are still significant• The science of climate change is complex and

requires specialized knowledge by journalists

• Journalists don’t have the time and knowledge to know what’s correct

• Report both sides of an issue

• Let the readers decide

Journalists have traditionally used a ‘political model’ to report about uncertainty:

Balance is Bias: Research by Naomi Oreskes in Science Magazine

• Of 928 peer-reviewed articles dealing with climate change in scientific journals during past 10 years, 0% expressed doubt about the cause of global warming.

• Of 636 articles about climate change in N.Y. Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal during the past 14 years, 53% expressed doubt as to the cause of global warming.

Journalists must deal with powerful disinformation campaigns:

• Exxon Mobil and other oil, coal and utilities companies have invested in public relations campaigns to raise doubts.

• Goal is to “reposition global warming as theory, rather than fact,” according to author Ross Gelbspan.

• Similar techniques used by tobacco industry 40 years ago.

Interest in environmental issues waxes and wanes

• Increases following accidents and disasters such as:

• Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986) nuclear power plant accidents

• Bhopal, India accident (1984)• Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989)• Hurricane Katrina (2005)

What is the role of a journalist?

• To accurately inform the public about issues that affect readers, viewers and listeners

• To write the first draft of history• To investigate government, business and

powerful special interests• To serve as a watchdog• To engage the public

An example of one investigative environmental

journalist:

NEW ORLEANS after

Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Mark Schleifstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune accurately forecast these problems – three years before Katrina

Why are environmental journalists important?

Most of what the public knows about science and the environment comes from the news media.

● Television -- 80 percent

● Newspapers -- 50 percent

● The Internet -- 20 percent

● Radio -- 18 percent

● Source: Pew Research Center, October 2003

Percentage of Americans who say these environmental issues are a "serious problem:"

93 % air pollution92 % water pollution89% deforestation83 % global warming83 % extinction of wildlife

33% say the quality of the environment is good or excellent65 % say the quality of the environment is fair or poor

Source: Yale Center for Environmental Law & PolicyMarch 2007 Nationwide survey of 1,000 adults

Rising Environmental Concerns:

Environmental Journalism helps combat scientific illiteracy

• 1/3 of the public doesn’t know what a molecule is

• 2/3 don’t understand the basics of radiation

• 5/6 don’t understand basic concepts of genetic engineering

• 57% think electrons are bigger than atoms

• 63% think people lived at the same time as dinosaurs

Some guidelines for environmental reporters:

• Best environmental reporting is usually in-depth reporting that explains in detail

• Base reporting on sound science• Follow the money. Who sponsored research?• Translate technical information clearly• Show impact on readers, viewers and listeners• Present solutions

Some resources:

• Society of Environmental Journalists (Climate Change Guide) www.sej.org/resource/index18.htm

• Investigative Reporters & Editors www.ire.org• Knight Center for Environmental Journalism -- ej.msu.edu• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change www.ipcc.ch • United Nations Environmental Program www.unep.org• World Resources Institute www.wri.org • Rough Guide to Climate Change

www.roughguides.com/climatechange • Exploratorium www.exploratorium.edu

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism seeks to improve public understanding of environmental issues through education, outreach and research about environmental journalism and the environment in the United States and around the world.

MISSION STATEMENT

• Knight Professor in Environmental Journalism was hired in 1994 and the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism was launched in 1999

• Expanded in 2003 with the hiring of Dave Poulson as assistant director

• Further expanded in 2005 with additional grants of $4 million from the Knight Foundation and Michigan State University

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism Background

Knight Center

Director

Jim Detjen

Associate

Director

Dave Poulson

KNIGHT CENTER

Offers new master’s degree with an option in environmental journalism

• Offers scholarships and graduate assistantships• Offers more than a dozen courses in

environmental and science journalism• Encourages international students• Helps students obtain internships and jobs

Developing new forms of environmental journalism

The Great Lakes Wiki

http://ej.msu.edu

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism website

offers news, resources and opportunities

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism

382 Communication Arts & Sciences

East Lansing, MI 48824-1212, USA

Phone: 517-349-7360 / 517-432-1415

FAX: 517-355-7710

Email: detjen@msu.edu / ej@msu.edu

Web: http://ej.msu.edu

To find out more about the

Knight Center for Environmental Journalism:

ECHO News Service

ECHO –

A daily summary of environmental news in Michigan distributed via the Internet.

http://ej.msu.edu/news.php

THE MEEMAN ARCHIVE

A searchable database showcasing thousands of award-winning newspaper articles.

DOCUMERICA

A tool to help journalists access 15,000 environmental images.