Thu, 27 May 2010 2:01p.m.
By Travis Mills
We all make decisions in life. Sometimes these are good decisions, other times not so good. But what do we base our decisions on? Most people I have talked to say our emotions, past experiences and the cold hard facts that are placed in front of us. But what happens when these facts that we obtain aren’t correct? How do we decipher the fact from fiction? We often turn to the media as a trusted source of unbiased and factual information.
For decades the media has had the ability to influence millions of people as they go about their daily lives. But in recent years they have been faced with an issue that if they get wrong could destroy millions of our future generations’ lives - how to present climate change to the general public?
The newsroom cannot afford for incorrect statements about climate change to be made. It is the job of the media to inform us and educate us and to tell the truth.
I am in no way saying that human-made climate change vs. natural climate change should not be debated. I am simply asking that the media understand that if they don’t present the most widely accepted, realistic and reliable views - that unless something is done in the near future climate change will affect the next generation – they risk my generation not taking this situation seriously.
EPMU’s journalism code of ethics states:
(Journalists) shall report and interpret the news with scrupulous honesty by striving to disclose all essential facts and by not suppressing relevant, available facts or distorting by wrong or improper emphasis.
We must give credit where credit is due: to date the New Zealand media has been mostly very successful in abiding by this guideline.
Sadly some international media has not been so successful. I still remember tuning in to an American television news station to find a commentator going through piece-by-piece explaining why climate change is a fraud, without any attempt to provide balance.
With the Emissions Trading Scheme soon to hit the road in New Zealand it will be very interesting to see how the New Zealand media connects it back to climate change. Will it be expressed as another tax which will supposedly make the nation poorer or will it be shown to be a necessary speed bump on the way to creating a new sustainable lifestyle for our future generations to grow up in?
I leave on June 3 for Brazil to represent New Zealand youth at the Let’s Take Care of Our Planet conference, where we will debate what responsibilities the youth of the world have in combating climate change.