Journalists urged to turn environment stories into human interest ones |20 April 2018

Journalists from all media platforms, print, broadcast or social media have been urged to turn environment stories into human interest ones, understand the story, know the science being discussed and have a vested interest in the subject.

In some other instances find somebody or the victim whose life is impacted by the topic as this will be as seen as a mean to get people involved, create active engagement as the  environment is everybody’s concern.

These points were results of a one-day workshop for journalists held at the Seychelles Trading Company’s (STC) conference hall.

The workshop was aimed at increasing journalists’ awareness of environmental issues like climate change and the critical role of the media towards the subject.

It also familiarised them with the basics of climate change, help them develop active strategies as journalists on how to address these and other environmental issues through their media platforms.

The workshop also sensitised journalists on how they can get people involved in environmental protection actions through their stories by turning them into a human interest one.

This can be achieved by journalists understanding the story, know the science being discussed, have a vested interest in the subject and in other instances find somebody or the victim whose life is impacted by the topic being discussed or implemented.

Also on the agenda were tools which could assist them in covering climate change and other environmental issues. One of the tools mentioned for this purpose was the app Verdantum.

The workshop facilitators were Michelle Martin, a capacity building specialist from the Global Climate Change Alliance Initiative (GCCA+) and Rajelle Barbe, the community engagement specialist of the Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EBA) Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The workshop also saw prominent foreign and local journalists as panellists in the likes of Pascale Harter, a foreign news reporter from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); Marie-Annette Ernesta, a journalist and board member of SBC and Patrick Muirhead, an SBC newsroom journalist who also trains aspiring journalists at the SBC Learning Centre.

In her presentation, Ms Martin emphasised that small island states are vulnerable and will be the most affected by the climate change conditions like biodiversity loss, coastal erosion, landslides, sea level rise, heavy rains and flooding.

She explained that when journalists are writing about these conditions, they have to know their audience, get their attention, translate scientific data into concrete experiences and beware the overuse of emotional appeals to address uncertainties.

“Climate change fits in every one of them. Here in Seychelles we’ve been quite pro-active about it,” said Ms Martin, mentioning various ongoing or completed projects that have been done here to counteract those adversities.

On his part Patrick Muirhead said that we only care about the environment on earth because of the effect it might have on us and the future generations. We have to turn environment stories into human interest stories so as to capture emotions.

Marie-Annette Ernesta went to explain how journalists should go about gathering, treating and disseminating their news stories.

Pascale Harter stated that the BBC newsroom in London is sort of the same as here where journalists do everything hence no time to really spend on environment topics and that press releases are full of jargons.

“Please don’t use jargons as your audience hates it and don’t know what you’re talking about. They have no idea and won’t listen, watch or read about it,” she said.

She urged the audience such as people who want to share their story to pick up their phone and ask the journalists what is important to them and to cultivate a contact and personal relationship with journalists.