Climate Crisis - Between denial and information flood
All over the world, journalists covering climate change face different challenges depending on which country they work in. But four journalists from Georgia, Ukraine, Austria and Denmark have hopes for the future of climate news.
By Emil Weis, Janika Wanner, Rima Marangozyan and Yuliia Pysarenko
Mentor: Yvonne Widler
According to a study conducted by the Reuters institute just under 50 percent of people in Eastern Europe and around 40 percent in Northern and Western Europe are interested in news about climate change. Even though the public is interested in news about climate change the journalistic genre faces some challenges. In countries such as Denmark and Austria there are journalists who are dedicated climate journalists and want to expand climate knowledge to all journalists and their subjects. While in Ukraine and Georgia they are still trying to make the government and people understand the depth of a crisis that is not ‘sexy’ to the public.
Four climate journalists from Georgia, Austria, Ukraine and Denmark are sharing their experiences and thoughts regarding the coverage of the topic in their countries
Ani Arveladze
©European union embassy in Georgia
Ani Arveladze is a young journalist form Georgia who has worked in the field for more than 10 years
She is currently working for Euronews Georgia and National TV Formula in Georgia.
There is little research about climate change here. We have got a government who always refuses to give journalists an interview or full information because they don’t want to admit that the rubbish we throw every day goes directly into the sea.
Ani Arveladze's documentary "Garbage Land" about the rubbished landscape in Georgia:
©Thomas Gobauer
Katharina Kropshofer
Katharina Kropshofer studied biology and cultural & social anthropology in Vienna, as well as science journalism in London. She works as an editor at Falter, an Austrian weekly newspaper.
She is also a Co-founder of andererseits, an initiative for inclusion in journalism, and the Network Climate Journalism - Austria.
A lot has changed in the last two years - it was a momentum for climate journalism.
In the last two years, numerous new formats dealing with the climate crisis have emerged in the Austrian media. The demand for information on the climate crisis is high. Although in a survey conducted by Greenpeace and MUTTER ERDE in 2022, 74% of Austrians reported that the climate crisis is an important issue for them, many people in Austria do not feel sufficiently informed about the topic. For example, 58% said they did not know what successful climate protection measures were being implemented in Austria.
So what is the approach of climate journalists in Austria to reach the public and solve this information deficit?
Mariana Verbovska
Mariana Verbovska is a Ukrainian environmental and climate change journalist. She has been working in the field for almost 15 years. She had experience as a Fulbright fellow in the USA in the centre for Climate Change Communication.
I noticed that my colleagues were curious about economical questions, corruption and culture as well, but not many people were curious about environmental issues. I don't know, maybe it was boring or not so sexy.
But is it important to cover the topic of environmental crises during war?
Marie Sæhl
Marie Sæhl is a 41 year old journalist from Denmark. She has been covering climate change for 4 years. Currently she is working for the Danish public service channel DR.
I think, that the public and the Danish politicians have become a lot more interested in the climate and climate issues over the past years
In Denmark the climate crisis has become more and more crucial as a political subject for the voters. In 2019 it was the most important subject for the Danish voters with 46 percent of people ranking it as one of the political subjects they cared most about. In the 2022 election, climate was in third place, surpassed only by the topics of health and economy.
What are some of the challenges as a Danish journalist covering climate change?
Raising awareness
When it comes to spreading information and raising awareness, the media has a very important role. This is especially true when talking about a problem as big as the climate crisis. According to research from Denmark, Ukraine, Georgia and Austria, it is common that people have heard about the climate change issue.
In Denmark and Austria, there is extensive coverage of the topic in the media and the awareness of the issue is increasing in the public. For countries such as Georgia or Ukraine, where the war is currently a more prevalent issue and therefore, the media does not put a lot of attention on the coverage of the climate crisis, most people don’t take any measures to overcome the crisis. There is lack of information in the media and journalists believe they have a big role to make an impact in changing it.
Hopes for the future of climate journalism: