Summary
Highlights
Katherine Dunn admits that, despite being a journalist, she often avoids clicking on IPCC reports due to the overwhelming and frightening nature of the news. She explains that many people share this sentiment, finding climate news scary, technical, or simply too much to handle given their existing plate of concerns. This creates a significant challenge for journalists and society, as increased engagement with climate news correlates with greater knowledge and understanding of its impacts.
Dunn, coming from an oil and gas background, realized the same engagement problem with her own climate reporting. This led her to join the Oxford Climate Journalism Network in 2022. The network's core idea is that climate is a 'lens,' not just an 'angle' or 'beat,' meaning it permeates all aspects of life. They bring together 100 journalists from 50-60 countries and diverse newsroom positions every six months to explore climate issues from various angles, including science, finance, culture, and sports, encouraging them to question their assumptions.
The first strategy is 'Find Your Mango,' inspired by an Egyptian editor's observation about declining mango quality due to climate change. This concept encourages identifying local, personal connections to climate change – whether it's coffee, skiing, durian, or even football. These are the things that make life meaningful and can help people connect emotionally to the broader issue, moving beyond abstract concerns about 'lives and livelihoods' to more tangible impacts on culture, food, and sports.
The second strategy highlights that climate coverage is 'contagious' and often already present in newsrooms, even if not explicitly labeled as such. Rather than immediately creating a dedicated climate desk, newsrooms can inventory their existing stories. Local reporters cover water issues, business reporters cover energy prices and insurance, and sports reporters cover extreme weather impacts on games. The key is to connect these dots by adding context or a brief explanation linking seemingly unrelated events to climate change, as exemplified by AFP's style guide for extreme weather. Many newsrooms are training all journalists to understand and connect these issues.
The third strategy is to 'be proactive.' Instead of reacting to climate disasters, journalists should anticipate events that are increasingly predictable, such as wildfires in Canada or extreme heat waves globally. Just as newsrooms prepare for major events like the Olympics or elections, they should prepare for climate impacts. Examples include covering the impact of extreme heat on elections or planning stories around the implications of a 40-degree Celsius summer in Paris for athletes and crowds during the Olympics. Stories like 'The Great Electrician Shortage' and 'Climate Heroes' demonstrate how climate can be woven into narratives about careers, labor markets, or community-led solutions.
Dunn emphasizes the need for both traditional, 'hard-hitting' climate reports (like those from the IPCC) and more relatable, human-centered stories. Her journalism school mantra, 'A story is someone doing something, because,' highlights the importance of agency and tangible actions in climate narratives. While the goal of stopping climate change is immense and can feel daunting, journalists' role is to provide good, useful information that helps people make tangible, important choices about their lives. By focusing on what's important to the audience, being proactive, and making connections, climate stories can become harder for people to ignore.