Maybe it takes wildfires, blistering temperatures, serious droughts and massive flooding in the United States, Europe and Asia to wake up the mainstream media. There is little doubt that all is not right on planet Earth. While the skeptics might say it is just part of the natural cycle, the scientists keep coming up with studies that show man-made climate change, destructive practices and pollution are tipping the Earth’s delicate balance.
We are using up the Earth’s resources and trashing our backyard and it is only a matter of time before we hit a tipping point.
In a sane society, this stuff would be headline news, with the subject of the environment taking pride of place. But if you take a cursory glance at the newspapers, magazines and online media, you would be hard-pressed to find environmental news on the front page. This is a mad world. As environmentalist David Suzuki says, “We are in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everybody’s arguing where they’re going to sit.”
Good reporting
To be fair, there is a lot of good reporting being done about threats to our planet and our future. When you have opened the newspaper or clicked through to the environment section (assuming there is an environment section), there are good stories to be found – everything from the miniscule to big-picture stuff. The New York Times, the UK’s Guardian, Huffington Post and Al Jazeera do run good stories on the environmental and social threats facing us today.
We also have to recognize that translating a threat that may not be immediately apparent into a story that attracts readers can be a tough call. Readers, viewers and users can get lost unless the challenge can be presented in a way that gives a sense of what this could mean on a personal level.
The elephant in the room
But you really have to wonder why mainstream media deliberately ignores the elephant in the room.
Is it the editors who are blind or the media company owners and policy-makers who prefer to focus on business as usual rather than make a stand and give the issue the prominence it should be due.
Give it a try yourself – check out mainstream media and look for the elephant.
Take CNN. Okay, they do run some good departments, such as CNN Heroes and their project to end modern-day slavery. But why is the environment not being given sufficient exposure? A cursory glance shows such stories as “‘Buxom Bandit’ gets away with loot” gets pride of place. The CNN network relies on the Mother Nature Network for their environmental coverage, hidden away at the bottom of the page. But even here, what does one find? – Famous films shot in national parks, Blind dog adopted by baseball team and Firewood more dangerous than fire. We have no beef with MNN. But one needs to ask CNN – where are the serious stories on the challenges facing this planet?
The recent Rio+20 Earth Summit was poorly covered by the mainstream media, though there were good stories that came out of the event. The trouble was that the media failed to give the issues serious front-page coverage.
Junk culture rules
There are many examples of popular mainstream media outlets that fail miserably with environment coverage. Part of it comes down to catering for the junk culture that focuses on movie stars, reality TV heroes and heroines, and errant politicians. The masses have been sucked in, eager to hear about the latest scandal or affair, or what Katie Holmes is thinking about now that the overexposed personal saga of her marriage to Tom Cruise is in trouble.
The Daily Beast and the UK’s Daily Mail are a couple of the worst offenders.
Recognizing the problem
A few people are beginning to recognize the problem. Recently, Huffington Post blogger Carol Pierson Holding wrote a piece entitled, Environmentalism is Centerpiece of Major TV Series Premier on Aaron Sorkin’s new series, The Newsroom, that included an episode on the BP Oil Spill.
Grist blogger Jess Zimmerman pointed out just how skewed the news is in blog post, The news pays almost 50 times more attention to Kardashians than to ocean acidification.
Making ‘green’ sexy
Buxom bandits and sexy Kardashians may well be hard to beat and maybe people can’t do without them if they want to be entertained. One should not be surprised.
But there are ways to make ocean acidification, carbon particles, sharks’ fins, logged trees, and poisons in our bloodstreams worth reading about. Good journalists know how. Good editors know how. Environmentalists can help.
How can environmental coverage be made sexy? And how can we get media organizations to put important news where it belongs?
