“When the other three estates fail, when the judiciary and the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the Fourth Estate has to succeed,” actor George Clooney said last Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes, America’s top rated TV news program for 50 years. Clooney was promoting his appearance in the Broadway production of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” his 2005 movie about Edward R. Murrow, the legendary CBS News broadcaster who, in the 1950s, stood up to the witch hunting of McCarthyism. A lesson from that era applies today as well, Clooney added: “Journalism and telling truth to power has to be waged, like war is waged. It doesn’t just happen accidentally. It takes people saying, ‘We’re going to do these stories and you’re going to have to come after us.’”
Unfortunately, America’s major TV networks sent quite the opposite message in their coverage of stranded NASA astronauts’ return to Earth. Eagle-eyed media writer Oliver Darcy disclosed the details in his Status newsletter, focusing on the refusal of ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and CNN “to call the body of water [the astronauts] splashed into…. the Gulf of Mexico, the water feature’s name since the 16th century.”
“Instead,” Darcy continued, “television news organizations tied themselves in knots, performing linguistic gymnastics to stay out of Donald Trump’s crosshairs, while also tiptoeing around audiences who would have surely been incensed to see them bend the knee and call it the ‘Gulf of America.’”
The corresponding question for climate reporting almost asks itself: Will US broadcasters now be similarly squeamish about stating as fact the long-settled science that climate change is real, extremely dangerous, and caused mainly by burning fossil fuels? Will news organizations perhaps stop using the term “climate change” altogether, now that Trump has had it removed from many government websites? Such self-censorship would not only mislead the public but betray journalism’s civic responsibility to hold power accountable. “Words are the front lines of truth,” Darcy wrote, “and once they’re ceded, it becomes far easier for strongmen like Trump to shape reality.”
The deeper problem is that journalists are under pressure not only from Trump but from their corporate owners. It’s no accident that ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN all capitulated by employing “off the coast of Florida” or other euphemisms for the Gulf of Mexico, Darcy argued. Broadcast news operations, he noted, have “standards departments” that rule on what their reporters can and cannot say on the air — departments that answer to corporate superiors.
It’s understandable that TV networks want to retain their White House access. But Trump has an insatiable craving for attention and wants TV cameras inside the White House as much as the networks do. Instead of caving to his absurd demands, TV networks and their owners might want to remember a lesson from grade school: Not standing up to a bully only encourages more bullying.
Bear in mind as well the animating fact of Covering Climate Now’s 89 Percent Project: The vast majority of the world’s people — 80 to 89%, according to recent science — want their governments to take stronger climate action. This overwhelming majority is but one indication among many that Trump’s authoritarianism, like his long-standing climate denial, isn’t popular with the mass public that TV news in particular targets. Leaning into better climate coverage is likelier to appeal to that mass public than bending the knee to a wannabe dictator.
From Us
LAST CALL for 2025 CCNow Awards. The deadline to enter your work for consideration in the 2025 CCNow Journalism Awards is this coming Monday, March 31, at 11:59pm US Eastern Time. Enter here.
The 89 Percent Project. On April 21, CCNow is launching a year-long initiative to shine light on the fact that a huge majority of the global population want governments to “do more” to fix climate change, which all too often is missing from the public climate discourse. We’ll kick off with a CCNow Joint Coverage Week this April, inviting newsrooms and journalists everywhere to join us. Learn more.
Climate at the Border. The second edition of our new Climate at the Border newsletter — part of a broader, ongoing effort by CCNow to draw attention to climate justice, migration, extreme weather, and more at the US-Mexico border — digs into the threat rising temperatures pose to outdoor workers. Check out the Climate at the Border archive and sign up to get it every other Wednesday. (Inscribirse para recibir El Clima en la Frontera en español.)
Power & Progress newsletter. The latest edition of our biweekly newsletter about the politics of the renewable energy transition looks into the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent repeal of regulations that underpin the agency’s own authority to combat climate change. Check out the Power & Progress archive and sign up to get it every other Tuesday.
Noteworthy Stories
See no evil, hear no evil. Internal documents show the US National Institute for Health will cease funding for research into the health impacts of climate change. “This is an administration where industry voices rule and prevail,” said one climate health expert. “This is an agenda item for the fossil fuel industry.” The expert characterized the decision as “catastrophic” and the effects it will have on needed research “devastating.” By Annie Waldman and Sharon Lerner for ProPublica…
Note from the doctor. A cadre of Atlanta doctors is making a concerted effort to talk to patients about the realities of climate change and the threat it can pose to their health. The effort is noteworthy, in particular because studies show that, in a time of widespread misinformation and distrust in institutions, primary care physicians are among Americans’ most trusted sources for information on climate change. By Alex Music for The Xylom…
Powering Europe. When Russia launched its war in Ukraine in 2022, many in Europe saw an opportunity to accelerate the clean energy transition, whereas for decades countries had depended on Russian oil and gas for large portions of their electric power generation. Three years on, Canary Media takes stock of the continent’s progress: “[Europe] has indeed radically reduced dependence on an aggressive Russia to keep its lights on and its homes heated, and it has cut overall usage of fossil fuels since the war began … [but] the aggressive decarbonization that many had envisioned has not been fully realized.” By Julian Spector for Canary Media…
Solar-powered recovery. In Gaza, amid decimated infrastructure and spontaneous blackouts imposed by Israel (which have been a long standing issue, present context aside), some Palestinians are looking to solar power in rebuilding efforts. Solar and other off-grid options, like wind, promise not only self-determination but lower costs — one leader representing the Palestinian Authority, the group aiming to replace Hamas, has said Gaza could become “the first region in the world to reach zero carbon emissions.” By Saqib Rahim for Grist…
Lawsuit heard round the world. In German court, hearings began last week in a case brought by a Peruvian farmer against the German fossil fuel company RWE. The farmer, who hails from the mountainous town of Huaraz, claims the company, due to its substantial historic greenhouse gas emissions, should bear responsibility for protecting the town from potentially catastrophic glacial melt. The case took nearly 10 years to come to trial, and German judges even traveled to Huaraz to consider the farmer’s allegations. By Riham Alkousaa for Reuters…
Just transition down under. Coal ties run deep in Collie, Western Australia, but as opportunities run dry — Australia aims to shutter 90% of its coal plants by 2035 — the city offers an optimistic model for how to adapt and enfranchise former coal workers. Climate Home News reports: “Collie has successfully garnered close to A$700 million (US$445 million) in investment to help it attract new green industries … The money will also go to retrain and repurpose the coal workforce and revitalise the town’s high street and tourist economy.” By Oliver Gordon for Climate Home News…
Dispatch #2 from the Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation
For the next few months, we’ll periodically share standout insights from the Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation, a collaboration between CCNow and the Solutions Journalism Network. This is the second.
How can journalists cover climate change in a way that makes climate justice tangible for audiences?
Camille Padilla Dalmau, journalist and founder of Puerto Rican newsroom 9 Millones, has worked to do just that in her career, building meaningful relationships with communities around the island. In doing so, she found that exploring justice in journalism starts with how we connect with the people and cultures whose stories we aim to share. By understanding and listening deeply to them, we can help ensure stories are shared accurately and with justice at their core. And by covering promising solutions, we can portray everyone in their full humanity — as people who want to better their world.
“Instead of presenting people as victims, center stories that highlight their agency,” she writes. “Feature the people who are organizing and proposing solutions out of necessity.”
Climate Quote of the Week
“In Antarctica the signs, and sounds, of climate change are impossible to miss.”
– NBC News National Climate Reporter Chase Cain, reporting from Antarctica
Resources, Events, Etc.
Extreme weather risk tool. A tool developed by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency to chart local climate impacts and risk nationwide — deployed in the twilight days of the Biden administration — was deleted in February by the Trump administration. The Guardian has helped rebuild the tool, complete with “county-by-county information on projected annual losses this century from threats including extreme heat, coastal flooding , wildfires, hurricanes and drought,” as well as “an overall risk rating [for each county], which ranked how vulnerable its particular population is to climate shocks.” Story on the tool’s rebuild by Oliver Milman and Andrew Witherspoon.
Trump rollback tracker. The advocacy group Climate Action Campaign has a tool called the “Trump’s climate and clean energy rollback tracker” to help you stay up to speed with the new administration’s rapid-fire cuts and walkbacks.
TOMORROW: Investigating your community. The nonprofit Sunlight Research Center is conducting training on March 28 to help journalists sharpen business investigation skills, featuring guidance from a private investigator and a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. The session will cover how “to navigate government databases to uncover key corporate information, reveal ownership details and financial trends, and analyze records to expose links between nonprofits and business interests.” Learn more and register.
Charging Ahead. On April 9, The UCLA School of Law is hosting a full-day symposium called “Charging Ahead: Cutting Vehicle Pollution in the New Trump Years.” The event, which is open to the public and part of the second annual Los Angeles Climate Week, will cover “creative approaches available to cities, counties, and states to cut [vehicle] pollution … and ways to ensure that the transition to cleaner vehicles benefits disadvantaged communities,” among other topics. Learn more and register.
The My Climate Story project. On April 10, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication; the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability & the Media; and the High Meadows Environmental Institute will host “20 of the best climate storytellers from around the world,” sharing “climate stories and reflections on the practice of climate storytelling by presenters of all ages and stages.” Learn more and register.
Jobs, Opportunities, Etc.
National & large outlets. Bloomberg is hiring a climate reporter (Hong Kong). Inside Climate News is hiring a chief development officer. Salon is hiring a senior staff writer for science and health (remote).
Local & smaller outlets. InvestigateWest is hiring an investigations editor (Washington, Oregon, or Idaho, apply by April 22). The Cleveland Plain Dealer is hiring a weather reporter. The Fresno Bee is hiring a Latino communities reporter and a city/county government reporter. Wisconsin Watch is hiring a “pathways to success” reporter, to cover postsecondary education and workforce training (northeast Wisconsin). The Texas Tribune is hiring a politics reporter (Austin) and economy and industry reporter (Houston). State Affairs is hiring an Indiana statehouse reporter (Indianapolis) and a Kansas statehouse reporter (Topeka). The Sacramento Bee is hiring a service journalism editor. WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Penn., is hiring a meteorologist. Oregon Public Broadcasting is hiring a visual journalist (Portland, apply by April 10).
Internships, etc. The Center for Climate Integrity is hiring a summer research intern (remote, apply by May 16).
Ocean Nexus and Metcalf Institute, in collaboration with The Uproot Project, are launching a new fellowship program for journalists called the Metcalf Ocean Nexus Academy. The fellowship is for US-based, mid-career journalists from diverse backgrounds who will “deepen their understanding of how our relationship with the ocean is intertwined with systemic inequities, particularly within historically marginalized communities, across the globe.” The application deadline is April 3. Learn more and apply.
Apartment Therapy is accepting pitches for an upcoming series on “how homeownership and renting have changed in a world more prone to extreme, deadly, and damaging climate events.” The call is for “personal, but data-driven, stories from people who live in an area, or have bought a home, that’s been affected by climate change.” The deadline is April 11, but act fast, as Apartment Therapy is only accepting 100 pitches. Learn more.
Submissions are open for the Climate Film Festival, now in its second year. The festival, “a celebration of bold, boundary-pushing environmental storytelling,” will be held September 19 to 22 in New York. It will include narrative and documentary features, experimental shorts, and music videos. The deadline for submissions is May 16. Learn more and apply.
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