Covering the Environment by Robert Wyss
How Journalists Work the Green Beat
Covering the Environment was originally written as a textbook for students expecting to work for newspapers. It is a valuable tool for Internet writers and bloggers.
Covering the Environment Journalist Interviews
Covering the Environment begins with the story about reporter MarK Schleifstein's hurricane coverage while working for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The stories he wrote with John McQuaid won two Pulitizer Prizes in which he predicted disaster with a high loss of life is said to have saved tens of thousands of lives in 2005.
He also covers Natalie Pawelski reporting from Yellowstone for CNN; Ron Nixon investigating clear-cut logging for the Roanoke Times; Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette covering a controversy over mining impacts on a school; and Dan Fagin uncovering cancer clusters on Long Island for Newsday. These real world examples are tied to important thematic lessons among them risk communication, understanding science, interviewing scientists reporters tools and dealing with regulators.
Christy George at the Oregon Public Broadcasting provided insights about the value of the first and last questions in interviewing scientists. Jim Bruggers of The (Louisville) Courier Journal discussed computer-assisted reporting in air pollution stories. Peter Lord's relates the human side of lead poisoning in a series that appeared in the Providence Journal.
Covering the Environment Points Out Failings and Controversies
The author discusses some of the failings of journalists in communicating risks. For example, when during the 1989 coverage of the pesticide Alar, author and researcher Sharon Friedman pointed out that only a fraction of the reporting had used any risk analysis to put the threat into perspective. The author outlines other serious controversies and instances when science may have been misreported for apparently political reasons.
Covering the Environment Overview
The book emphasizes that the role of environmental journalists is not as environmental advocates but as reporters attempting to accurately and fairly report the news.
The contents include:
- An overview and history of the environment and journalism, spotlighting the most significant issues.
- Guidance on understanding environmental and health science, ranging from issues of risk, to scientific research and studies, to interviewing scientists.
- Insights into government and regulatory communities and environmental advocates on all sides of the political spectrum.
- Assistance in accessing public records and conducting computer-assisted reporting.
- Guidance in writing the story for print, broadcast and Internet audiences.
- An examination of the future of journalism and coverage of the environment.
The book also includes a glossary of environmental, science, regulator and journalism terms as well as a reference section and index.
Wyss writes that "Journalists must determine what is news. They cannot delegate what should be on the public agenda to any one group, be it science, government, or political and environmental advocates. He maintains that environmental reporting goes far beyond news and numbers.
About the Author: Robert Wyss
Covering the Environment author Robert Wyss uses the skills acquired during his 35 years as a newspaper reporter. He has covered environmental and energy issues for a variety of publications, including the Providence Journal, the Boston Globe, the New York Times and E Magazine. He has taught environmental journalism at Michigan State University and the University of Connecticut.
Wyss, Robert. Covering the Environment: How Journalists Work the Green Beat. Florence Kentucky: Routledge 2008
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