Climate change should be covered from human perspective, says AP editor

By Aysu Bicer

ISTANBUL (AA) - Climate change and environmental degradation have been covered for a long time as a scientific issue and not something that affects us as human beings, said Peter Prengaman, global climate and environmental news editor at The Associated Press.

He was speaking to Anadolu Agency at the sidelines of the Environment Forum which kicked off in Istanbul on Thursday.

The more we cover climate change holistically, the more interest there will be "because people will be able to connect with different parts of it," Prengaman said.

Climate change has not always been covered from the standpoint of humans and the standpoint of business and innovation and technology, he added.

The biggest challenge journalists covering environmental issues face is engagement, he said.

Connecting with the people is crucial, he said, adding: "I asked myself three questions all the time, who's not paying attention to climate news? Why are they not paying attention to climate news? And how can we engage them? That's hard, because it's an abstract thing for a lot of people. There's a lot of denial, there's a lot of misinformation. Change is very hard."

"How do we get people to really engage with our stories?" he said, adding that this responsibility falls on the shoulders of journalists.

- Images and fact-checking

The most effective tool for covering climate change news is photos, he underlined.

In the newsroom at AP, he said, photos, videos and interactive graphics are the integral components of the news.

"But I think when you see people who are impacted by climate change, it really impacts you as a viewer to hear people to see their situation. We've started this year series on climate migration, where we look at individuals who have been forced to move because of climate change, and look at their lives very closely."

On a question on the importance of solutions journalism -- an approach to news reporting that focuses on the responses to social issues as well as the problems themselves -- for climate change-related stories, he said, they are especially focused in this direction.

"I think the most important thing that we can do is when we write about a company or a project that's happening, that we really know what we're talking about, because there a lot of people who make claims," he said.

The media has a huge responsibility of reporting the truth, he said.

"If people say that they're lowering emissions, if they say they're doing these things, then we need to check it."

Also talking about activism in climate journalism, he said it is important for journalists to stay objective.

"We are very focused on being as objective as possible. Climate change is real, that there's a scientific basis for it.That's it's very well defined.

"So we start from that basis, it's our job to represent like all the different possibilities, and the way that people are thinking about and debating climate change," he concluded.

Anadolu Agency, Türkiye’s leading news provider, organized the first Environment Forum to raise awareness about the climate crisis and environmental issues.

The event aims to tackle issues such as the need to create a new media language on environmental and climate issues, international news agencies raising global awareness, the duties of traditional and new media outlets, and the pursuit of environmental awareness in news.