James Fahn: Reporting Climate Change to the Developing World
First, we are making sure that journalists from the developing world are able to attend these conferences and report back to their home audiences. That's why, for the fourth year in a row, Internews, along with partner organizations Panos and the International Institute for Environment and Development will bring the largest media delegation to Cancun-bigger than CNN, bigger than the BBC, bigger than any wire service. This year, the delegation hails from 29 countries.
Many of these professionals make up what I have called "the reporters with the most to lose." That's because their audiences tend to literally live closer to nature, and thus feel the effects of change most acutely. In the US and other developed countries, our wealth allows most of us to withstand and adapt to climate change, at least for now. In Burma it can mean a storm wiping out hundreds of low-lying villages and killing thousands of people in a matter of a few hours.
At the same time, this year there is also a new twist that also speaks to Gore's concern: This delegation features, for the first time ever, ten US journalists. These are reporters who otherwise would not have been able to report from Cancun because of shrinking newsroom budgets in America.
The second action required is training. That's why Internews unveiled this week a free online toolkit, to go along with a free online course we unveiled last year, available to anyone in the
No comments:
Post a Comment