Minister of climate convinced by plea for more journalism with regards to sustainable development
The winner of the Encon Sustainability Award 2022 has been announced and this year it is one with a bold theme: climate journalism. Minister of climate, environment, sustainable development and Green Deal, Zakia Khattabi was given a brief presentation during the award ceremony.
Let's get straight to the point. "When it comes to sustainability, media will have to become more integrated." dixit Gijs Lambrechts - Master in communication sciences at the VUB.
If we really want to create a better world, we will have to add sustainability as a pronoun to every aspect of our society as well as in the media, as this winning thesis of 2022 demonstrates. "Today there is still too much working from separate domains," explains Gijs. "You have a climate section on the one hand, and an economy section on the other. However, if we are to still talk about ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’ reporting, then a climate dimension will have to be added to political, economic and social reporting and vice versa."
Phenomena such as climate change, racism and the migration issue are not isolated data. They are dysfunctions of a system where different aspects within seperate domains interact. As a result, expertise no longer guarantees objectivity, being the media's most crucial aspect. Knowledge within one domain, without framing this domain within the system, automatically leads to subjectivity. "For example, an expert within one domain can be in favour of nuclear energy, while an expert within another domain is against nuclear energy," Gijs said while presenting his thesis. "Both experts are objective within their framework, but their views polarize because they are not sufficiently framed within the system."
The media currently faces a major challenge: to be able to report more accurately and effectively on topics of interest to readers and viewers. Can this be achieved through more expertise and/or better (niche) training within journalism? Both approaches are needed to ensure that the media can provide reliable and accurate reporting.
The content of the winning thesis of the Encon Sustainability Award is a theme close to Minister Khattabi's heart. "The same principle also applies at government level," she remarked afterwards. "It would be interesting to see how we can better cooperate across competences and look at Belgian policy from an overarching view rather than from individual domains."
"Although the winning thesis of 2022 does not immediately provide a solution," admits Robin Bruninx, CEO of Encon, "it does open an interesting debate." What is the media's role in sustainability and climate? What are the implications of a wide audience? What impact does it have on people? Let's open the debate on this.
Of course, this does not take away from the fact that it is also important to take the next step, and formulate ideas that can lead to a solution. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to appeal to universities and students in advance. Turn your climate activism into action, and turn your ideas for a different approach in the media - or other industries - into action!