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
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.
1. Tale of two rivers
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 environmentalism from the political wings to centre
stage". (Corner & Schlesinger, 1991).
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.
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.
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).
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.
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
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.
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
2. Skills issues:
Lessons of Environmental
& Developmental Journ
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
3. When undercurrents
come together …
Two rivers 1
• If there are aspects of both environmentalism 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?
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?
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.
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
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?
4. Solutions
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 …
Durban does it
• Media marketing => people-centred, storytelling 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
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.
5. Conclusion
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).
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.
Thank you:
may the water of your work
be highly drinkable!