Finding pearls in pools: The flow of environmental journalism after the WSSD

1. Finding pearls in pools: The flow of environmental journalism after the WSSD Guy Berger, Rhodes Univ Conference: Sustaining Environmental Journalism, Nelson Mandela Gateway, Cape Town, Nov 20-21 2003

2. Coming up • WSSD re-defined Enviro journalism • Enviro journ can • draw from, • contribute to, and • integrate with Development journ. • Result: changes in character of journ = raised relevance.

3. 1. Tale of two rivers

4. Two rivers: environmentalism and developmentalism • Environment journ springs from 1972: Unep 70s civil society movements • Media have been "centrally involved in lubricating the passage of environment-alism from the political wings to centre stage". (Corner & Schlesinger, 1991).

5. On the other side of the mountain: • During the 1970s a different river was already strongly flowing … “developmentalism” • Development as a post-WWII concept. (Marshall Plan, Cold War, 3rd World). • Development = economic growth. Environmental issues were tangential, rather than integral to it.

6. Rivers begin to relate: • 1980s: Some of the headwaters of developmentalism flow into springs of environmentalism. • 1987 Brundtland: Devt & environ seen as linked. Enviro problems caused by both poverty and wealth.

7. 1991: Rio “Earth Summit” • Declaration on environmental rights • Climate change convention • Biodiversity convention, Forestry AND • socio-economic aspects (poverty, consumption, urbanisation); • strengthening major groups (women, children, youth, workers, business, scientists, farmers).

8. Running in tandem • 1970s – people and civil society brought back into Developmentalism. Poverty and equity concerns arise there. • Developmentalism shares with environmentalism a global perspective: neither concerns can be addressed on purely local or even national matters.

9. Converging waters • 2000: UN Millenium Declaration: Globalization needs values of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, shared responsibility. • Development to eradicate poverty AND protect common environment. • 2002: WSSD – not “Earth Summit II”. Integrating economy and ecology

10. Whirlpools: • WSSD: Not just equally important issues, but inter-related ones. • Chippy Olver: • Pre-Rio: getting green on agenda • During Rio: linking enviro & devt • WSSD: poverty as the 3rd pillar. • Significantly, most concrete agreement is an interface issue: water-sanitation.

11. WSSD - So what? • Will be hard after WSSD for environmentalism to ignore devt and poverty. • While converse does not apply, there is at least some “greening” of devt issues. • Will be hard for 21st Century developmentalism to ignore environmental issues. • Trends not neat, not complete

12. 2. Skills issues: Lessons of Environmental & Developmental Journ

13. Media craft: Enviro Journ • Much enviro journ = effective watchdog • Also mobilized civic activism • “Save the planet or go under” • Close to people’s hearts • Raises info-access and accountability. • These traditions can enrich devt journ - it hasn’t had them, nor the same impact

14. Meanwhile, devt journ - discredited • Watchdog replaced by show poodle • Promotion -> propaganda • People as objects, devt as statistics • Today: praise for enviro journ; scorn for devt journ. • But baby lost out with bathwater

15. What env journ offers devt journ • Watchdog role: • Exposing bottlenecks in spending • Exposing corruption • Questioning military spend • Debating AIDS (and donor aid) policies • Legitimate advocacy role: • Newsvalues of human rights, solidarity, explanatory & empowering content • Lead the market, not just follow it. • Democratise public policy

16. Way ahead for devt journ • Like enviro journ, celebrate success, popularize activism. • and keep head high. • And assess devt journ history – which can enrich enviro journ: • Modernization view: disseminate info • Dependency view: what info - interconnections • Participation view: whose info? • Ditch much baggage, keep other cargo

17. So devt journ can offer experience to enviro journ • Despite its limits, devt journ has something to contribute. • Insights from developmentalism can enrich devt journ • Enviro journ should spread info, reflect global variation (eg. GM food), consider grassroots voices.

18. Summing up: A new Devt journ can draw from Enviro Journ. Enviro Journ can be enriched by aspects of Devt Journ. And in the process, the two journalisms will become more similar – mirroring the object of their coverage: enviro+devt issues.

19. 3. When undercurrents come together …

20. Two rivers 1 • If there are aspects of both environment-alism and developmentalism that are useful to each other, how far should they go in terms of inter-relating? • Will media still report these separately? • Will we have people-centred journalism on the one hand, and planet-centred on the other, and nothing on the interdependency?

21. One water – what quality? • Will devt-oriented journalists draw from enviro journ and monitor governments’ compliance with the WSSD sanitation accord? • Will enviro journalists keep the same issue on their radar screens, alongside issues like greenhouse gases, and will they consider how global info relations impact? • And another qtn: how well will any of this be reported?

22. Headwaters contaminating enviro journ • Sources: courts, scientists, pressure groups. Elite sources. • Frames: Chernobyl unique; Bhopal to be expected of India; SA game farms as simple ecotourism. • Expertise deficit: lack of science training; press releases regurgitated.

23. Enviro Jrn toxins cntd • Negativism: Dying seals, alarmism & Chicken Little Journalism. • Event orientation: crises drive the news • Transcience: “but radon didn’t go anywhere” • Economics: produce less about more – not resourced to report a complex subject and lots of dynamics. • Polarised and reductionist reporting: truth sacrificed to balance or drama

24. Pollutants in Devt Journ • Devt journ has similar pollution from upstream: • Events, not process, focus • Elite sources: what developers do to developees • Modernist cultural frames • Lack of expertise and resources • Question: A noxious mixture? • Reinforcing the worst of the two journalisms?

25. 4. Solutions

26. Alternatives • In both Enviro Journ and Devt Journ, the answers lie in part in journalists’ • hands, • heads, & • hearts. • Broader issues also come into play, as in Barnett’s study of Durban media covering pollution in the city. • This is a confluence of factors …

27. Durban does it • Media marketing => people-centred, story-telling narratives. • Enviro activists move to brown issues, from “Save the rhino” to pollution, sanitation, etc. • Political activists and conservationists join. • Result: extensive coverage that: • Popularised protest against pollution • Legitimised protesters • Linked daily experience to public policy & practice

28. Integrating envir & devt • Story-telling style linked trends & daily events • Independence kept journos non-partisan – and led to research into pollution-health connections. • At first, enviro’s needed media more than vice versa; now media see value in enviro’s. • Enviro journ moved onto business pages • Mixed drink of Env & Devt angles was popular on front pages & news bulletins, not only specialist niches.

29. 5. Conclusion

30. Water divination: • Today, 2003, it’s clear that enviro & devt concerns overlap a lot. • Not to say they have become identical. • But there will be increased blurring. • Example: 21st century issue: genetics. • Whether seen as enviro/science or devt story, reporting will have to move to integrated whole. • (And deal with secrecy + science for sale).

31. Therefore … • Journos should align with the best in covering both enviro and devt. • In short, swim in the sparkling pools where the two rivers come together. Remember the two aspects in every story. • Take a critical look at the swimming skills we’ve been taught, develop new ones. • Reduce pollutants and redefine our relationship to other H20 stakeholders.

32. Thank you:may the water of your work be highly drinkable!