October 12, 2007

The Environment - The Story of Our Time

Dear Friend,

It has been said that the environment is the most important story of our time. Nowhere is that story unfolding more dramatically than in the developing world, where 80% of the world’s population and most of the world’s biodiversity are concentrated. As developing nations struggle to find the right balance between the short-term pressures of economic development versus the longer-term goal of environmental sustainability, journalists have a key role to play in educating and informing the public on the underlying issues.

This e-newsletter takes a look at how developing country reporters are learning to work “the green beat.” Internews’ Earth Journalism Network trains and mentors journalists in reporting on critical environmental issues such as climate change and species extinction; it also fosters local networks of environmental reporters and serves as an expert resource.

Sincerely,

Annette Makino
Senior Vice President for Communications and Corporate Affairs
Internews Network

In China, an Investigative Reporter Uncovers a City’s Pollution Secrets

Zhang Ke, an environmental reporter from China Business News, smelled a rat. He was accompanying an official government inspection team to Liupanshui, a city of roughly 2.8 million people in southwestern China, and the deputy mayor was assuring them that his city had no problems with pollution. In fact, he said, there were not even any coal or chemical plants there. (More)

Egyptian Children Harness the Power of the Media to Tackle a Polluting Factory

Every morning when Randa and Marwa, both age 11, come to school, they have to walk through gray, polluted air from the neighboring factory. The Om Kura School, located in the city of Alexandria in northern Egypt, sits next a factory whose chimneys release dirty smoke all through the day. (More)

Helping Developing Country Journalists to Cover Bali Conference

When James Fahn, now the Executive Director for Internews' Earth Journalism Network, attended the United Nations conference on climate change in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 as a reporter for the Bangkok-based newspaper The Nation, he found he was one of only a few journalists there representing media from the developing world—and he had to pay his own way. (More)

Effective Journalism Creates Environmental Impact in Southeast Asia

During an investigative reporting field trip to Tam Dao National Park in Vietnam earlier this year, participating journalists were surprised to discover that a so-called ecotourism project slated for the park was set to include a casino and a golf course, hardly the most environmentally sensitive use of this biologically rich region. (More)

For more information on Internews' environmental reporting programs, see our Summer 2007 Newsletter on Environmental Journalism