Dan Froomkin of Press Watch writes:
News organizations including the [Washington] Post have staffed up their climate desks, and those reporters are doing important, urgent work. (The newly-hired writer of the New York Times’s new climate newsletter was working on his inaugural dispatch when flood waters invaded his Hudson Valley home. How’s that for creating a sense of urgency?)
But the political reporters who cover the executive and legislative branches don’t seem the least bit concerned about climate change.
They’re certainly not demanding their sources explain why they’re not doing anything about it. They’re not explaining it to readers themselves. They just accept inaction as normal. And therefore, not newsworthy.
Froomkin
America’s national newspapers may be paying inadequate attention to climate change and its causes, but they are a million miles ahead of Postmedia, Canada’s largest publicly subsidized newspaper chain.
I noted a statement in National Post saying, “Oil and gas subsidies aren’t really a real thing.” This is not journalism. It is industry friendly propaganda. As Sen. Dirksen said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Of course the indisputable truth is that governments have been throwing tens of billions of dollars at the oil and gas industry through direct and indirect subsidies.
Back to Froomkin’s point about political reporters failing the public. I looked at writings of Vaughn Palmer, a person considered by many to be the Dean of the BC Press Gallery. The province’s production of fossil fuels is accelerating, and wildfires — with months to go in fire season — have consumed 450 percent of the average of the preceding 15 years, But Palmer is writing about issues other than climate change. Not one of Palmer’s last 30 columns touches on the existential emergency.
CTV’s former Legislative Bureau Chief Bhinder Sajan —still shown as VP of BC Legislative Press Gallery — is now the Premier’s Deputy Director of Communications. Remember that CBC’s legislative bureau chief Stephen Smart was hired as Premier Christy Clark’s press secretary. Do you ever wonder why critical coverage of government seldom comes from journalists working close to government?
Google searches revealed zero reports and columns in 2023 from Keith Baldrey and Rob Shaw that are primarily about the climate crisis.
Paraphrasing Froomkin, we may see stories about floods and fires and heat waves — but none about how reducing the use of fossil fuels is a nonstarter in governments because of resistance from the powerful fossil fuel lobby and its devoted acolytes in political parties.
Simply making the connection between climate change and environmental disasters isn’t enough, Arielle Samuelson and Emily Atkin wrote in their wonderful climate-crisis newsletter called Heated. “To truly do the climate story justice, the news media must go further, and connect climate change to the fossil fuel companies refusing to reduce their planet-destroying emissions.”
Froomkin
It appears that most citizens won’t think about climate change until their own loved ones are directly affected by it. But 18th century prose reminds us that we belong to the whole of the human race and should feel a sense of loss whenever any group suffers for no reason of their own. We all have a share of the world.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne (1572-1631)
Journalists can help explain climate’s role in extreme weather, even before all the data comes in
Simply saying “there is no certainty” — as journalists have done for years — can lead people to be skeptical of climate change. Whereas answering it too simply may mean audiences automatically think there’s bound to be no link at all. A lack of certainty could also lead audiences to think that postponing climate action would have no consequences.
Categories: Climate Change
in-sights.ca 
I remember Marjorie Nicols columns well. Considerd her the best poliktical writer in Canada. I was about 17 when I started reading her columns. There was also another man, Bruce Hutchinson. He was retired but wrote from time to time and was brilliant. Of course there was Sima Holt and Jack Wasserman. Although Wasserman was known for his “salon” column, every once in awhile he wold take a stand on a social issiue. I’ll never forget the item he wrote about the need for legal abortion in canada and that was way before political presssure was starting. Once upon a time here in B.C. if you got a doctor or two to sign documents you could have your spouse, usually a wife put into a mental institution.
You could do thay with your kid also.
Wasserman wasnn’t keen on that law and from time to time wrote aabout how it needed to be abolished. My guess always was there were some in the province who were using it to keep a spouse or kid in detention.
LikeLike
Vaughn Palmer’s biggest fib was in his first Sun article. He stated he would try to live up to the standard that Marjorie Nichols had set before him. It soon became very obvious that the BC Liberals had no feet because they were never kept in the fire. With the void this created he doubled down on the NDP. Marjorie Nichols toke every politician from any party and let us know what garbage they were sending our way.
LikeLike
Agreed about Marjorie Nichols. She was a take-no-prisoners journalist and sometimes was critical of her less-brave colleagues. She died too soon.
Since younger readers may not remember her, here’s a short bio:
“For good reason, I think people know that they can’t trust us.” — Marjorie Nichols, on journalists.
At age 23 in 1967, Marjorie Nichols became the youngest reporter and only woman in the Ottawa press gallery for the now-defunct Ottawa Journal. Eleven years later she was an Ottawa columnist and bureau chief. In her career with the Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun she became a close associate with Allan Fotheringham, Pamela Wallin, Hugh Winsor, John Sawatsky and especially Jack Webster in their later years. Diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in 1988, she died on December 29, 1991 in Red Deer Hospital at age 48.
LikeLike
The cartoon is hilarious!
Ah, the press, PostMedia, Vaughan Palmer and the rest………..
Most newspapers are owned by conglomerates and are in the business of making money or printing propaganda or views which promote their corporate bosses. They throw in some sports, some stab’em and slab’m stories and consider it news. The legacy press, loved those words, made me laugh and still does. So what is a legacy press? Certainly not a thoughtful, long time newspaper which prints real news. It is just another word game to have taxpayers subsidize the corporations.
One of the problems is so much of the media is owned by very few companies. Some companies own the t.v. station, radio stations, etc. It doesn’t allow for anything meaningful. Its just their agenda. Like how are we the consumers going to benefit from Rogers buying Shaw? We’re not and it concentrates too much power in the hands of one corporation.
Now as to the problem of fires as the result of climate change. don’t expect government to do anything or the media to take a position which might upset advertisers. They don’t care. They just don’t care. Their house hasn’t burnt down, A member of their family hasn’t died because of the fires. They’re doing fine in their air conditioned homes, cars, etc. They think they will have enough money to protect themselves and their children from climate change. surprise, that won’t happen. Most of them are simply the servants of the .01%.
The comment regarding planes flying every where for vacations. Easy, each country is given so many flights a year with so much jet fuel. If its used up, too bad, walk. Airlines keep reducing fares, that results in more people flying. We might want to look at raising air fares. Air lines might make a profit and their workers might be paid better salaries.
People compain when the ferries aren’t running full tilt. they complain and complain but no one points out that if ferries are’t running they aren’t using fuel and the cars aren’t driving all over the province. Its a form of pollution control.
I read an article about France and their new policy, no flights for short trips, its take the train. Might work here also. Of course the old rail line on Vancouver Island isn’t being used and most likely never will be, yet we have semis going up and down the Inland highway, 24/7. At least a train system would enable inventory to be moved around with less fuel and we wouldn’t have people complaining every time the Malahat was closed.
I’d suggest we take a whole bunch of politicians, corporate raiders and owners, media types and leave them in any number of fire zones for a month along with the fire fighters. No air conditioning, no special meals or accomodation, etc. See if they think there is a problem after than.
LikeLike
The main problem is politcal denial and the belief that we can tax ourselves out of Global Warming and climate change.
The mainstream media, being the best Canadians that money can buy, only report what they ar told to report or else.
What is needed is wholesale societal change and that is not going to happen.
We need to cut passenger air flights by as much as 75%! We need to build regional rail networks. We need to stop building highways. We need to stop the annual pilgrimages to have “fun in the sun”. We need to plant trees on a scale of 10 fold of what is being planted today. We need to change our throw away consumerism. We need to grow our own food.
Problem is our current lot in Ottawa, Victoria and local city halls just do not have the moral fortitude to make change happen as they cling to an age that has gone.
LikeLike
You do know that Palmer writes for Post Media. Have you noticed that their parent company is a whos who of industrial big business. From oil and gas extraction to refining and pipelines. From chemicals, pharmaceuticals, transportation and shipping to manufacturing, radio, television, cable, printing media groups and so much more. Post Media has become the public relations department for Big Business. Why would you expect Vaugh Palmer or any writers working for Post to actually act as a journalist? That reminds of of the time the New York Times exposed the political wild west of BC political corruption while Vaughn Palmer and his fellow public relations copy writers chose to turn blind eye. Why because? Because their employers were solidly in support of of the governing Liberal Party and their willingness to accept bribes in exchange for favorable governance.
LikeLike
Thks Gary. I stand corrected. I follow the MSM melt down in the USA more than up here to some degree. My point about the possibility of journalists getting kneecapped by editors seems to be quite frequent down there. Why else would independent sites such as Rumble, Racket, Substack now be the go to places for independent reporting? Glenn G once a founding principal at the Intercept left due to his rejection of his Hunter Biden offering.
My thought on Palmer although it is definitely important to get his current employer right , would not trump in my mind to ask him the climate question (for the record). Not his beat?
Maybe Osoyoos might be a place he could consider. 🙂
Thks again for the correction.
LikeLike
Glenn Greenwald’s exit from Intercept was more complicated than the website declining to publish an article that editors thought was “a factually suspect piece.” Greenwald left to write Substack newsletter that he boasts earns him in excess of $1 million a year.
Greenwald didn’t choose to go quietly, so using Twitter and regular appearances on Fox, he launched frequent public criticisms of his former colleagues. WAPO reported “Greenwald’s ex-colleagues at the Intercept say that he has lied about their work. Worse, they say, his attacks have helped stir an angry and dangerous reaction in right-wing circles, leading to harassment of some of the publication’s journalists.”
More than a decade ago, I was an early follower of Greenwald. But I began to find more and more faults with his work and removed him from my list of regular reads.
LikeLike
Thks Norm. I am currently a subscriber but in all honesty I have not checked in for awhile and will not be renewing my subscription.
He seems to be pretty full of himself. However setting the finer points
of Glenn G departure aside it would be hard not to notice the movement afoot of US journalist moving away from reporting under the control of MSM and establishing a less restrictive environment in which to practise their profession independently. For some it is not all about the Borden
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Back to Froomkin’s point about political reporters failing the public.”
Fair enough but what about the voting public failing their children and grandchildren?
Yes disappointed in Palmer being a no show but you don’t know if he has tried to post but Van Sun rejected his offerings. Anybody ever ask him? Editors rule.
Eby reads from the same script as Smith in Alberta and that script must be followed if the cheque book is to stay open. It takes a lot of work to find those arsonists.
Until the sociopathic/psychopathic keepers governing us are directly impacted by climate disruption why would they change anything? The personalities mentioned may seem unduly harsh to attach to our keepers but some have skin in the game namely most have living parents or could be parents and or grandparents and somehow their leadership on these serious issues before us is ok.
Addressing a new path required by voting for a change in governance is just theatre. Start with Campbell and play it forward.
The leadership failures at the top filters down to the public such that cognitive dissonance has taken and almost epidemic hold on our mental state to protect our ability to function in our ever increasing dystopian headed society. That unfortunately is only exacerbating the climate disruption existential threat now being displayed in many forms.
By the way who reads the Van Sun anyway? Places like here and other independents elsewhere are where you find the truth tellers.
Back to my air conditioned bubble.
LikeLiked by 1 person