Environmental Journalism What is it What is Journalism

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Environmental Journalism What is it?

Environmental Journalism What is it?

What is Journalism? • Merriam Webster: • the collection and editing of news for

What is Journalism? • Merriam Webster: • the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media

Huh?

Huh?

Journalism: • Telling true stories, well and accurately. • Communicating information that will help

Journalism: • Telling true stories, well and accurately. • Communicating information that will help people make sense of their world. • Getting the story behind the story, avoiding the spin, finding the truth. • A public trust with citizens to investigate and expose wrongs and trumpet rights. • Doug Saunders : “universal reflex of citizenship. ” • Adding meaning to facts. • “Gathering, analyzing, and disseminating socially relevant information in a consistent, transparent, and honest way. ” -Luis Santos • --Thanks to Gina Chen!

What is Good News Writing? • • • What happened? How has the world

What is Good News Writing? • • • What happened? How has the world changed? So what? ABC: accuracy, brevity, clarity. multiple authoritative, reliable sources Quotes effectively Provides context balanced, unbiased Shows the reader what happened; doesn’t tell the reader what to think.

The five Ws and an H • • • Who What Where When Why

The five Ws and an H • • • Who What Where When Why and How

What is environmentalism? • Environmentalism, is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns

What is environmentalism? • Environmentalism, is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment. • -Wikipedia

Huh?

Huh?

Ok, really, what’s environmentalism? • "The more clearly we can focus our attention on

Ok, really, what’s environmentalism? • "The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. ” • —Rachel Carson, 1954

Paul Brooks, Rachel Carson’s editor: • Conservationists need words because what they are trying

Paul Brooks, Rachel Carson’s editor: • Conservationists need words because what they are trying to do is to enlighten and inform: to change fundamental attitudes , not because they say so, but because they have the facts that will command such change.

The Forest Beyond the Pyramid Most important & newsworthy Least Important; supporting details

The Forest Beyond the Pyramid Most important & newsworthy Least Important; supporting details

Michael Frome: • Environmental writing reaches deeper with beginning, middle, and end integrally joined.

Michael Frome: • Environmental writing reaches deeper with beginning, middle, and end integrally joined. It thinks not simply of Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, but of species instead of an animal, a forest instead of a tree.

… the Whole writing with a purpose…thinking about the whole, with breadth and perspective

… the Whole writing with a purpose…thinking about the whole, with breadth and perspective – --Michael Frome Asking deeper questions. --Bill Mc. Kibben

Frome: More than reporting • • • Social service Voice to struggle Honesty and

Frome: More than reporting • • • Social service Voice to struggle Honesty and purpose Risk and sacrifice Care for the non-human world

Are environmental reporters just tree huggers with a notebook?

Are environmental reporters just tree huggers with a notebook?

No, but get beyond the…

No, but get beyond the…

Report. Don’t Exhort. • People who want to write about the environment, care about

Report. Don’t Exhort. • People who want to write about the environment, care about the environment. That means they don’t think the way most people think. –Candy Page, BFP • You can’t assume everyone shares your values, speaks Ecologish or gives a shit about trees. • Make them care by showing them what’s true.

Felicity Barringer • Good guys vs evil polluters is not always useful • Take

Felicity Barringer • Good guys vs evil polluters is not always useful • Take the side of science

Andrew Revkin • • Convey what the science has revealed What is not understood

Andrew Revkin • • Convey what the science has revealed What is not understood Future research Amount of uncertainty

Revkin • Activism lies in choosing subjects like climate change and biodiversity loss that

Revkin • Activism lies in choosing subjects like climate change and biodiversity loss that the media tend to shy away from because they don’t fit our norms: – Clear news “peg” – Risks relevant to daily life

 • “Environmental stories don’t break, they ooze. ” • —Frank Allen, Ex-Wall Street

• “Environmental stories don’t break, they ooze. ” • —Frank Allen, Ex-Wall Street Journal writer