MainDB: The Paradoxes of Climate Change Reporting: A study of landslide news coverage in Hindi language newspapers of Himachal Pradesh, India
Title:
The Paradoxes of Climate Change Reporting: A study of landslide news coverage in Hindi language newspapers of Himachal Pradesh, India
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NWPTypeOfOrganization:
Civil society
NWPGeographicRegion:
Asia
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Activities:
Adaptation element:
Capacity building; Climate observations; Communication and outreach/awareness; Education and training; Knowledge management; Science and research; Socio-economic data and information
Adaptation sector/theme:
Biodiversity; Community-based adaptation; Human settlements
Climate hazard:
Erratic rainfall; Land and forest degradation; Loss of biodiversity
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Description:
The study looks into the existing gaps in the newsrooms of the selected editions of the Hindi-language newspapers reporting on the issues of climate change. It analyzes how climate change stories especially landslide news are covered and reported and are prioritized in daily reporting assignments. It used cross-sectional, descriptive, exploratory and qualitative methods. The primary data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with the working journalists and editorial staff of the selected newspapers. The study approached content analysis to extract themes in the reportage of issues where the newspapers played a crucial role in developing people’s perception of climate change by using their considerable public trust to build acceptance through small narratives. It was observed that the connection between climate change and the local event is seldom made in climate reportage. Although the damage caused was reported extensively, there is little introspection by the newspapers as to the reasons for such catastrophic events. The study finds that there is little to no connection is made to the significance of anthropogenic factors in causing the disaster in all the observed news stories. The attribution to climate change appears mostly in the form of vague throwaway statements or brief quotes from experts.
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Due to its unique geo-morphological and ecological setting, the landscape in and around Himachal Pradesh has seen changes due to increasing human activities like tourism, and city infrastructure development in the region in the past two decades. At the same time, the state has witnessed natural hazards like earthquakes, landslides, flash floods and wildfires. It can be said with certain confidence that the current process of climate change has increased the frequency of landslides, flash floods and wildfires (Free Press Journal, 2021). Poorly planned unscientific human expansions and interventions have made the region more vulnerable to climatic disasters. Combined with ongoing climate change, human activities over higher altitudes like the construction of dams and roads for micro hydro-power plants, increase in new settlements and conversion of land use from forest to agriculture and/or change in tree species (e.g. cider to pine), have resulted in the alteration of the hydrological cycle in the form of increased run-off and depletion of natural springs (Panwar, 2021). The science of climate change and/or climate variability is a bit complex as various components of the Earth’s climate system are interacting with each other mostly in a non-linear manner involving positive/negative feedback processes (Boyce, 2009). To develop a basic understanding of the science behind climate change, a fundamental understanding of basic sciences (both natural and physical) is a prerequisite. Though global as well as national agencies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively involved in raising the level of public awareness about climate change through their publications, their reach is limited to academicians and policymakers. In the mission of spreading climate awareness to the greater depths, mass-media organizations involving electronic (e.g. the National Geographic, the Discovery, the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Cable News Network etc.) as well as print media (e.g. the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Times of India, the Indian Express and the Hindu etc.) are playing a crucial role at global as well as national level. It is pertinent to mention here that the characteristics (form and magnitude) of climate change and its implications at the regional level are quite different over different parts of the world (Boykoff, 2011). Thus, the role of mass media organizations working on the regional or state level becomes crucial for disseminating awareness about climate change-related issues to the ultimate stakeholders. In comparison to big newspapers with an established sophisticated newsroom and trained journalists, the coverage of climate stories is noticeable in state editions of language newspapers, even though the profile of these stories has never been higher. In a hill state like Himachal Pradesh, the public understanding of the subject is low and journalists are no exception as they come from the same community with limited exposure to the issue. The reflection of this can be seen in the stories published in the state editions of Hindi newspapers. The opinions and views presented in these stories are mostly outdated, driven by spin or simply wrong. In state editions of Hindi language newspapers published from Himachal Pradesh, stories about climatic hazards/disasters reflected in terms of extreme temperature and extreme precipitation events are often written without a brief introduction that covers what, why and how the type of questions about a particular issue like chill or heat waves, cloud burst and flash-floods etc. Moreover, issues such as implications of climate change viz. loss of biodiversity, shift in vegetation, migration of species, loss of food security, and increase of insects/vector-borne diseases etc. hardly get any space. Many times, disastrous events like earthquakes or flash floods are covered just like a simple science/environment story. Most of the journalists working in these state editions of Hindi newspapers are graduates of arts or social sciences and are unwilling or unable to have a better understanding of science. Since, climate change nowadays encompasses the economy, health, security and more, the subject is extremely complex and easy to get wrong. The foremost challenge in covering climate change stories is the requirement for a strong grasp of the fundamentals of the climate debate. This grasp is often lacking and this has contributed to stories out of facts and false balance. The coverage of a recent event – a flash flood-like situation in Dharamshala covered by the state editions of Hindi newspapers was woefully inadequate (Nisbet, 2010). Nearly all the state editions termed the situation as a cloud-burst quoting state sources instead of consulting with qualified scientists which brought chaos and created panic among the state community. The story was quickly picked up by many national TV channels and newspapers, and the visuals of the incident quickly circulated on social media. This is one of the many examples of journalistic balance gone wrong.
NWPGeographicScope:
National; Regional
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NWPInformationType:
Knowledge Resource
NWPJoinDate:
01/07/2024
NWPPartner:
Central University of Himachal Pradesh
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Target group:
Academics and scientists; Communities; Policy makers; Practitioners
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NWP
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In this study, we referred to the place attachment theory to develop an understanding of how the notion of state editions of Hindi language dailies has been central to the concept of local journalism. The theory suggests that people have an emotional relationship with specific landscapes (Schweizer et al. 2013). The decision-making processes in journalism practice, especially related to conflicts of interest and ethical pressures in terms of bonding of people to places helps to understand how the complexity and dynamics of emotions in a climate change engagement framework works in reporting of people, activities or processes in reference to climate change reporting (Altman & Low, 1992; Brown & Perkins, 1992; Bhaskaran et al., 2020). The bonds and different forms of attachment that people have for places, particularly landscapes impacted by climate change is a subject of concern while gathering, packaging, and distributing news at the regional level. This concept of local journalism emphasizes on the state news and information about the politics and sociology of communities living in a geography where the newspaper is published and circulated (Richards, 2012). The climate change mediated stories told locally not only explain the meanings people assign to places but also how these meanings are altered as environmental crises arise (Stedman, 2003). O’Neil and Nicholson-Cole’s (2009) study on media representations of climate change reinforces the importance of a physical, place-based connection in the communication of climate change. The study observed that the local stories of climate change make people empowered and thus make a difference. The study insisted that the local context of the climate change stories makes the seriousness of the issue resonant and helps people to prepare them to timely respond. The place-based climate change engagement approach in environmental reporting provides a meaningful dialogue in a specific place, where people interact with each other and the landscape to develop a deeper understanding of the ecological and social inter-relationships and impacts on the ecosystem (Schweizer et al., 2013). The theoretical framework of place-based climate change engagement in climate change reporting provides an opportunity for local media outlets to create a public engagement forum to bring changes at the community level to curb anthropogenic climate change impacts. This also changes the public conversation by simplifying and connecting climate change impacts to people’s values, personal experiences, and daily lives (Hess, Malilay & Parkinson, 2008). This theory allows media scholars to integrate multiple dimensions of climate change communication and helps to understand the paradoxes of telling the stories of climate change (Zehr, 2000). Mocatta et al (2022) in her study observed that the local reporting of the issues of climate crisis can bring transformational changes as they are quite capable of reporting and covering the issues at the community level.
Implementing partners:
Central University of Himachal Pradesh, India
NWPYearPublication:
2023
NWPUpdate:
SourceItemID:
2589
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NWPTypeOfKnowledge:
Scientific/peer reviewed publication
NWPCountryItem:
India
NWPRelevantWeblinks:
https://jdc.journals.unisel.edu.my/index.php/jdc/article/view/231;#The study looks into the existing gaps in the newsrooms of the selected editions of the Hindi-language newspapers reporting on the issues of climate change. It analyzes how climate change stories especially landslide news are covered and reported and are prioritized in daily reporting assignments. It used cross-sectional, descriptive, exploratory and qualitative methods. The primary data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with the working journalists and editorial staff of the selected newspapers. The study approached content analysis to extract themes in the reportage of issues where the newspapers played a crucial role in developing people’s perception of climate change by using their considerable public trust to build acceptance through small narratives. It was observed that the connection between climate change and the local event is seldom made in climate reportage. Although the damage caused was reported extensively, there is little introspection by the newspapers as to the reasons for such catastrophic events. The study finds that there is little to no connection is made to the significance of anthropogenic factors in causing the disaster in all the observed news stories. The attribution to climate change appears mostly in the form of vague throwaway statements or brief quotes from experts. ;#https://jdc.journals.unisel.edu.my/index.php/jdc/article/view/231;#https://jdc.journals.unisel.edu.my/index.php/jdc/article/view/231
Created at 01/07/2024 18:30 by crmmocservices
Last modified at 01/07/2024 18:30 by crmmocservices
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