SciDev.Net

This SciDev.Net article discusses whether journalists or scientists can best inform the public about climate change issues. The article gathers comments of a number of scientists and journalists from the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2009.

According to Katherine Richardson, the chair of the conference, journalistic organisations are more interested in making money than presenting a clear interpretation of climate change to the public. Thus, her opinion is that scientists need to rethink their communication strategy. As stated here, Richardson indicated that because media organisations need to sell their newspapers, "...expecting journalists to do this job for us when they are being paid to earn money for a newspaper isn't correct - it isn't going to happen." She cited an example where a photo of a melting ice cap was published with captions announcing a new and profitable shipping route to China or a new frontier for oil exploration, without explaining how the ice melt would affect Earth's systems and future generations of humans. She invited journalists to talk to scientists to try to get more clarity and coverage of climate change issues.

Comments of other conference participants and organisers on the dynamics of the relationship between journalists and scientists included the following:
"Martin Parry of Imperial College London and a working group co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change commented that climate change research was unusual because it is often conducted in parallel with political decision-making, leaving little time for journalism to perform an adequate filtering process. Patrick Luganda, chair of the Network of Climate Journalists of the Greater Horn of Africa, urged climate scientists to appreciate how the media works.... Luganda said journalists must strengthen their relationships with the experts to better understand the significance of research findings. Journalists in developing countries need more training, networking and mentoring in order to communicate science better. Saleemul Huq, head of the Climate Change Group at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development said both sides were to blame. 'The trouble with scientists is that they don't like talking to media. Scientists in general deal in complexity. They have to simplify.' He said that climate change reporting required a different type of journalism from typical science reporting: challenging climate research just to create a contrasting view in the name of balance was a 'disservice'."

SciDev.Net Weekly Update, March 16-22 2009.