It was Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire, who came up with the tagline “Democracy Dies in Darkness” for The Washington Post. According to a memoir by the paper’s former editor, Martin Baron, Bezos greenlit the “democracy” line after an internal staff favorite was rejected by his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott.
In his book Baron admits to initially being impressed by the new owner, now the world’s third-richest man. “Everything I’ve heard and seen tells me that Bezos honestly believes in an essential role for journalism in a democracy,” Baron wrote.
That didn’t turn out so well. Baron has left the Post, Bezos has cozied up to Donald Trump (Amazon bankrolled the recent propaganda film about Melania Trump), and it’s The Washington Post that’s dying, bleeding out from a thousand paper cuts. Recent layoffs at the paper gutted, among others, its metro coverage, its international reach, its book section, and not least the climate team. One of America’s great newspapers now lives in very dubious company, among other newsrooms, including CBS News and the Los Angeles Times, undercut by their own bosses.
In the US, the very notion of public service journalism is under assault, at precisely the moment that it’s most needed. And climate journalism is a case in point.
Sammy Roth, who reported on climate for the Los Angeles Times and now writes his own newsletter, Climate-Colored Goggles, has documented Bezos’s thrashing of the Post’s climate work, which had often been first-rate. Fourteen climate journalists — including editors, reporters, and data and video journalists — were among the more than 300 Post employees to lose their jobs in the bloodletting. The challenges facing the Post’s remaining climate team have become an order of magnitude harder.
The cutbacks come as the Post editorial page has become a destination for climate apologia, including an op-ed from climate skeptic Bjørn Lomborg, and a signed editorial applauding Trump’s trashing of the “endangerment finding,” which had given the US Environmental Protection Agency legal authority to regulate planet-warming pollutants. As Roth noted, the Post editorial questioned whether the “modest benefits of regulating greenhouse gases outweigh the considerable economic costs.” People around the world who are seeing their lives upended by a warming earth won’t see the effects of higher emissions as “modest”; but it would take reporters on the ground to tell their stories.
CBS News, meanwhile, is tacking in the same direction. The network, owned by the billionaire Ellison family, also has cut back on its climate team, laying off all but one of its climate journalists last year under its new leader, The Free Press founder Bari Weiss. Roth reviewed the Free Press coverage of climate change when Weiss was there and found a common thread. “Again and again, Weiss has published pieces insisting liberals have an unhealthy obsession with climate change, and that phasing out fossil fuels is unrealistic and harmful.”
CBS’s new worldview is oozing out beyond the newsroom. This week, late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert accused CBS of censorship after the network pulled his interview with a Democratic Senate candidate in Texas. “Let’s just call this what it is,” Colbert said on his show. “Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV.”
And so it goes, across the country. Journalists at outlets of all sizes report waning interest, if not outright antagonism, to the climate story among newsroom executives. This ambivalence is exactly what Trump and his allies want. It also is a dereliction of journalistic duty. Audiences need to know what is happening in the world around them. And they say, again and again, that they care about climate change and its solutions. Why abandon them now?
The answer is this: The people who own much of the world’s media do not regard coverage of climate change to be in their economic interest. As a result, the rest of us are left in darkness.
From Us
AI & Climate Change. Join CCNow on Tuesday, February 24, at 12pm US Eastern Time (17h UTC), for , “AI Data Centers & Their Climate and Community Impact,” the first webinar in our three-part series on AI. Learn more and RSVP.
WATCH: Americans Care About Climate Change More Than You Think. Last week, CCNow hosted a recent Press Briefing about the latest ‘American Minds’ survey results, published by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. Watch a recording.
Radar Clima: cubrir las lluvias torrenciales. La última edición de Radar Clima, nuestro boletín en español para periodistas de todas las áreas, te trae claves, expertos y recursos para reportar un desastre climático cada vez más frecuente. Incluye datos clave, contactos de voces expertas y ángulos de cobertura para reportear una crisis que está transformando territorios de América Latina y España. Échale un vistazo a las ediciones anteriores y suscríbete para recibir el boletín cada dos miércoles.
Noteworthy Stories
TotalEnergies suit. France’s first trial against a top oil and gas producer begins today, February 19. Advocacy groups claim that TotalEnergies is in violation of French law, which states that companies with more than 5,000 employees must consider the risks to human rights and health when doing business. French prosecutors joined the case on behalf of the oil company, a rare move. By Stéphane Foucart and Stéphane Mandard for Le Monde…
Endangerment finding. In mid-February, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency repealed the “endangerment finding,” which served as the legal basis for federal climate policy. Carbon Brief explains what the move could mean for US climate action.
Losing culture. In Greenland, rising temperatures are melting glaciers and thawing permafrost — which, in turn, threatens Inuit traditions, including dog sledding, which seal hunters have relied on for their livelihoods for more than 1,000 years. By Emma Burrows, Evgeniy Maloletka, and Kwiyeon Ha of the Associated Press, via PBS News…
Pressuring Vanuatu. The US is pressuring other UN member states to reject a draft resolution by the island nation Vanuatu that supports a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice confirming that countries have a legal obligation to act on climate change. By Lyndal Rowlands for Al Jazeera…
Event
Mediterranean storms. Did climate change impact the recent extreme weather in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco? Join World Weather Attribution’s journalists-only press briefing on February 25, at 11h UTC to learn how climate change might have played a role. Journalists may email wwamedia@imperial.ac.uk to register.
Jobs, Etc.
Jobs. Report for America is hiring 70 reporters in newsrooms across the US. Mongabay is hiring for two positions: Production Editor, Global and Contributing Editor, Asia Pacific (remote). The Pulitzer Center is hiring for a number of positions, including Project Manager for Engagement & Education, Social Media Coordinator, and Director of University Programs (remote). Politico is hiring a California Energy, Environment and Climate Editor (Sacramento, Calif.). The Banner is hiring for a number of positions, including Deputy Editor, Sports Reporter, and Express Reporter (Baltimore, Md.).
Fellowships. The University of Colorado at Boulder is accepting applications for its Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism; apply by March 1. The Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University is accepting applications for its Energy Journalism Fellows program; apply by March 2.
Grant. The Pulitzer Center is launching a special call for applications for its Environmental Reporting Focusing on Transparency and Governance grant; apply by February 28.
Workshop. The Metcalf Institute is accepting applications for its annual workshop; apply by February 23.