Former USP academic talks ‘deliberative journalism’ and environmental risk reporting
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 | Professor of Journalism at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and former USP academic, Professor David Robie, presenting on deliberative journalism, in relation to environmental reporting at the 12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress |
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A former USP academic says that global environmental challenges – especially in the Pacific region – give the opportunity for deliberative journalism to help Pacific communities become empowered.
At a symposium organised during the 12th Pacific Science Inter-Congress, Professor David Robie based at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and a former head of USP Journalism, talked about a variety of issues stemming from the challenge of environmental reporting in the Pacific.
In his presentation, Deliberative journalism, environmental risk and media credibility, Professor Robie explored traditional journalism values and the Pacific profession’s own challenges of adaptation to environmental changes.
Deliberative journalism is issues-based reporting, and looking at daily news as issues and not merely events. In the Pacific context, reporting on environmental issues such as climate change have become more prevalent, with countries such as Kiribati and Tuvalu bearing the brunt of these global challenges.
He said in filing issue-based reports which can effectively capture public attention, deliberative journalists also needed to be incisive, comprehensive and balanced to help the public understand the background and context of these issues.
He outlined three traditional notions of a professional free media: being watchdogs on political abuse of power; and providing accurate facts for citizens to make informed choices in general elections, as well as a platform for critical and informed debate.
“These traditionally fundamental attributes of a free press with declining credibility have been under question in Western democracies for the past few decades,” he said, adding that nowhere has the legitimacy of the twin assumptions of ‘impartial reporting’ and ‘objectivity’ been more severely tested than with environmental journalism and evaluating risk.
The new risks involve issues such as climate change, extraction industries degradation, depleted fisheries, genetically modified (GM) food and crops, nuclear waste and oil spills.
He added that journalists are at a critical crossroads, “living in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to the impact of climate change and the challenges of aid effectiveness and adaptation funding”.
Professor Robie gave a comprehensive analysis of books and documentaries surrounding the challenges of issues-based reporting, including Rethinking Journalism (Peters & Broersma), International Journalism and Democracy (edited by Angela Romano), and Failed States by Noam Chomsky.
He said in the book, International Journalism, Romano’s approach to deliberative journalism by empowering local people and greater popular decision making, was emphasised.
He also touched on Chomsky’s understanding of ‘failed states’ whose perception of the United States of America sheds a whole new light on the concept. He said these states represent a global challenge in the environmental context, and not just politically.
With regards to the objectivity in reporting, Professor Robie said, “There is no such thing, many ‘real’ journalists soon acknowledge. The mere decision to cover this or not cover that, or to play up this story or play down that one, is after all, a subjective one”.
“For example, too much coverage was given by some media to fringe climate change deniers under the pretext of ‘objectivity’. But journalists strived to be balanced and fair,” he said.
Professor Robie has been a journalist for more than 40 years, covering issues in the Asia-Pacific region, and is the editor of the Pacific Journalism Review (PJR) which is the only research journal to explore media issues in the region. He is also the director of the Pacific Media Centre based at the AUT.
More about deliberative journalism:
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/articles/deliberative-journalism-robust-methodology-pacific
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