Covering the Planet: Assessing the State of Climate and Environmental Journalism Globally

"Understanding how journalists all around the world report on climate change and the environment is crucial in the current moment in which attention to environmental crisis is so urgently needed, if we are to confront such crises and galvanize change."

This report, published by Internews' Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and Deakin University, documents urgent challenges confronting climate and environmental journalists across the globe. The report is based on a survey of 744 journalists and editors in 102 countries and in-depth interviews with 74 journalists in 31 countries. The study asked how journalists conduct their climate and environmental reporting - and what they require in order to do it better, as the deadlines for international treaty commitments fast approach.

As explained in the report, "Media are the key source of information about climate change and environment for most people. Media define for audiences what environmental problems are, their causes and consequences, and provide options to act in response....[T]o date there has been no study on a truly global scale clarifying the challenges and enablers, role conceptions and professional development needs of journalists who cover climate change and the environment."
 
The study is informed by the following research questions:

1. What is the current state of climate and environmental journalism, globally?
   • What issues are journalists reporting on, in relation to climate and the environment?
   • How frequently are journalists reporting on climate change and the environment?
2. How do journalists perceive the prominence of environmental and climate stories as compared to other beats or in the past?
3. To what extent do journalists perceive support for climate and environmental reporting from editors and newsroom leadership?
4. What are the obstacles to reporting on the environment and climate change, and what are enablers?
5. What do journalists need to increase their capacity to report on the environment and climate change?
6. What role can funding organisations play in supporting environmental and climate journalists?

This study finds a varied landscape in which journalists strive to bring to public attention the environmental issues and problems that matter most, as well as solutions that are being enacted in regions around the world. The key findings as highlighted in the report are:

• Journalists perceive that coverage of climate change and the environment has increased over time, mainly due to the increase in problems related to environment, and, to a lesser extent, due to increasing public interest.
• Journalists reported overwhelmingly (82% affirmative) that climate and environmental stories now have more prominence - relative to other subjects - than a decade ago.
• Journalists reported in interviews, however, that the volume of coverage of climate change is still not commensurate with the seriousness of the problem.
• Journalists said a health frame was how they were most likely to approach their climate and environmental coverage (70%). Other key themes related to the environment that journalists reported on were deforestation (58%), water and sanitation (58%), water pollution (57%), government policy (56%), and plastic pollution (53%).
• Journalists noted overwhelmingly that a lack of resources limits their coverage of climate and environmental issues (76%).
• The concept of "balance" is still being used in many countries as a reason to include climate- "skeptical" sources in reporting about climate change. 62% of surveyed journalists reported including statements from sources who are skeptical of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change or climate science.
• Most journalists adhere to professional norms like objectivity, seeing it as the core of their profession. Few journalists said they would advocate for particular positions or policies on climate or the environment in their role.
• Journalists in some countries are threatened because of their work and feel they have to self-censor. 39% of journalists are sometimes or frequently threatened because of their work, and the same percentage of journalists has self-censored when covering climate and environment-related issues.
• Threats to journalists come mainly from those pursuing illegal activities in relation to the environment.
• Climate and environmental reporting is also complicated by misinformation. 58% of journalists surveyed said that misinformation had increased in the last decade. The source of that misinformation was overwhelmingly social media (93% of journalists observed this).
• To increase their capacity to report on climate change and environment, journalists report the top five priorities for assistance as being: more funding for in-depth journalism (79%), in-person training and workshops (75%), fellowships to attend conferences (72%), more access to relevant data (67%), and better access to subject experts (60%).
• In the survey and interviews, journalists agreed that the work of media support non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was crucially important to their climate and environmental reporting. Many journalists said they would not be able to report on climate or environment without this assistance.
• There is a tension between journalists' desire for NGO funding to cover climate/environment and their need for freedom and independence in their work.
• Journalists prefer NGO funding not to be tied to particular subject matter: They would like to be free to cover the climate and environmental topics that are most locally relevant for their audience.
• Journalists did report in the survey and interviews that they had seen changes as a result of their work. These changes were mostly related to their audiences (and included a perception of better public understanding). 29% of journalists reported government policy change as a result of their work.
• Journalists are focusing on climate and environmental problems as well as their solutions. 72% of journalists said they reported problems and solutions roughly in equal balance.

The report makes the point that "Supporting and amplifying their work in this global moment is essential if we are to enact the transformative change that is so urgently needed." Based on the findings, it offers a list of detailed recommendations for funding organisations, newsrooms, and journalists on how environmental reporting can be strengthened. The following are just a selection:

For funding organisations:

• Funders should make more support available for journalists covering climate change and the environment.
• Funders should work with journalists and newsrooms for a focused approach and longevity of funding.
• Funders should consider journalists' diverse training needs in different country contexts.

For newsrooms:

• Newsrooms should encourage some journalists to specialise in reporting on climate change and the environment.
• Media outlets should publish and broadcast more climate and environment stories and make them more prominent.
• Newsrooms should encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing between journalists: All stories are climate stories.

For journalists:

• Journalists must focus on making global environmental issues locally relevant.
• Climate and environmental journalism should cover solutions as well as problems.
• Climate justice perspectives should be highlighted in climate change reporting.