HEATED: Challenging objectivity in climate journalism

It’s common to hear the word “objective” used in relation to the work of journalists. However, its definition and application are hotly debated, with some experts arguing it’s either impossible or impractical to apply in the profession, with some instead urging “moral clarity” as a new, more accurate standard.

Climate reporter Emily Atkin says that adherence to a loosely defined standard of objectivity is holding back climate reporting in the mainstream media, and that building trust with readers is more important.

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Climate change and environmental issues overlap both human rights and science, yet they’re sometimes debated in the mainstream as if they’re purely factual topics that must be devoid of human investment. For instance, to “call out the polluters for polluting” is sometimes deemed advocacy by both readers and editors, says Atkin, in explaining why she started her independent newsletter, HEATED.

“I didn’t want to be fighting about whether or not we were being too ‘activisty’ by calling out polluters, when I really thought that that was what journalism was supposed to be,” she says.

This dynamic isn’t relegated to the environmental or climate beats. Preventing reporters who care about civil rights from covering protests also has precedent, though such policies are inconsistently applied. But Atkin argues that, just as with war or health crises, you wouldn’t want someone who is completely detached from the human consequences of these to be reporting such news anyway.

“You wouldn’t trust a reporter covering the opioid crisis who looked at all these kids dying and didn’t say ‘this is a problem,’ right? We don’t consider that to be necessarily a breach of journalistic objectivity, but for some reason we still consider it to be a breach of objectivity for the climate crisis,” Atkin says.

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Banner image:  An abstract AI-generated photo of a wildfire in a forest. Image from CharlVera via Pixabay. 

Rachel Donald is a climate corruption reporter and the creator of Planet: Critical, the podcast and newsletter for a world in crisis. Her latest thoughts can be found at 𝕏 via @CrisisReports and at Bluesky via @racheldonald.bsky.social.

Mike DiGirolamo is a host & associate producer for Mongabay based in Sydney. He co-hosts and edits the Mongabay Newscast. Find him on LinkedIn, Bluesky and Instagram.