As one of the winners of the Farm Radio International-CTA scriptwriting competition African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change, Gladson Makowa of the Story Workshop in Malawi recently attended CTA’s seminar on Implications of Climate Change for Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems. Gladson reports on new research about the media and climate change, and reflects on what needs to happen to improve media coverage of this critical issue.
Media coverage of climatic change in southern Africa is scant. A recent survey by PANOS Southern Africa called Media coverage of climate change: The case study of Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia not only confirmed this fact, but looked at the reasons behind it.
Parkie Mbozi is the director of PANOS Southern Africa. He presented the survey results at a recent CTA seminar on climate change and agriculture, held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Mr. Mbozi noted that media openness varies from country to country in southern Africa. The survey was designed to determine whether the varying degrees of openness are responsible for the media “blackout” on climate issues, and whether the media houses – or perhaps scientists themselves – are to blame.
The survey showed that scientists are aware of the extent to which media report on climate change. They also know that media houses, communities, and governments need to be informed so they can take appropriate action. However, the study revealed that scientists may not fully understand why journalists do not report on climate change more fully or frequently.
The research revealed that journalists need more training to understand climate change. Journalists need to be trained on climatic change and, more generally, how to report on environmental issues. There is a need to report factual information in a way that captures readers’ attention. And journalists often need to appreciate the practical impact of climatic change on people’s lives before they can share this message with their audience.
The fact that journalists in southern Africa often prefer quoting foreign news agencies rather than local sources has led scientists to ask themselves a number of questions. Are local scientists too busy to answer journalists’ questions? Why do journalists give greater coverage to politics than scientific concerns? Is it simply that journalists and scientists come from different planets – one from Venus and the other from Mars – and that their orbits never cross?
Mr. Mbozi noted that most journalists do not receive any training in specialized reporting. There are few available options for such training, and, as Oumy Ndiaye, head of the Communications Channels and Services Department at CTA points out — the fact that media houses expect journalists to report on issues as diverse as human rights and the latest presidential reception only makes matters worse.
What are the solutions? Firstly, scientists need to help journalists understand and become familiar with issues like climate change. Journalists could also benefit from developing their own specializations. Mr. Mbozi wonders if providing incentives to environmental reporters would help. Concrete and verifiable scientific information – something which is often not available at the moment – would be an important incentive.
The fact is that human activity is changing the climate but we are doing little to keep each other informed about the process. Who is to blame – the journalists or the scientists? I think that the answer is — both. Scientists should learn to simplify their language and keep in touch with journalists – taking them into the field, if necessary, just as politicians do. Politicians know how to link up with journalists. Can scientists perhaps learn something from them?
