Twenty-five environmental journalists, photojournalists, academics, and others contributed to the Nieman Reports’Winter 2002 “Environmental Reporting: Exploring the Beat” 60-page feature on media coverage of environmental issues.

Following are some teasers from the coverage:

“While the [9/11] terrorist attack threw the environment beat off its high-profile stride, eco-journalism is struggling with a mountain of other challenges. A lingering recession and budget cuts from corporate owners demanding high profit margins have reduced news space, travel, and staffing.” (Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News)

“Media managers were and, I think, still are ambivalent about environmental stories and their claim on the news hole….Why is environmental reporting so troublesome to management? I still don’t fully know.” (Philip Shabecoff, from 1977 to 1991 New York Times environmental reporter in Washington, D.C.)

“Maybe this downturn in newsroom interest has happened because some reporters aren’t able to take their journalism to the next level by figuring out how to turn what are among the most complicated news stories into compelling reads – and we must never forget that our jot is to tell compelling stories.” (James Bruggers, Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky)

“What kind of journalism is needed to meet the global environmental challenges of the 21st century?….[News media] need to develop and practice a new kind of reportage – sustainable journalism – if they are to help society grapple with many daunting environmental challenges in the years ahead.” (Jim Detjen, Michigan State University Knight Center for Environmental Journalism)

“I listened to what scientists observed was happening, but I kept my camera’s eye fixed on the haunting faces of children….Their expressions and circumstances bespoke the consequences of the environmental tragedies in ways that any retelling of the experts’ verbal arguments never could.” (Stan Grossfeld, Boston Globe associate editor and photographer)

“It’s time for the mainstream media to ignore the perennial charges of liberal bias and tell the truth about the environmental crisis, giving it the splash and urgency it deserves.” (Charles Alexander, recently retired after 23 years as Time magazine reporter, writer and editor)

“Environment beat reporters need to become experts on – or at least willing students of – science, government policy, economics, business practices, health impacts, and civil rights issues.” (Margaret Kriz, National Journal environment and energy correspondent)

“My reporting would have been a lot better if I knew then what I know now about a well-established body of science that explains why people are so afraid of some relatively low risks and so unafraid of some relatively big ones.” (David Ropeik, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis)

“Absence of reliable evidence is not the same as absence of risk.” (Dan Fagin, Newsday)

“Perhaps the only sure thing I can draw from more than a decade of environment reporting is that nothing is clear, but everything is connected.” (Michael Milstein, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.)

“Many editors think of me as a nature and wildlife photographer. I think of myself as a photojournalist whose work explores the increasingly complex relationship between people and the environment….We must strive to creatively catch the public’s eye while we remain true to our journalistic roots.” (Natalie Fobes, photojournalist)

“I wish I could figure out what makes environmental journalism so mysterious to so many people in our business. When done right, it’s passionate storytelling with a hard-nosed quest for truth, and this should be the hallmark of our craft….we have an awesome responsibility, and we have the power to inflame a community or put it to sleep.” (Tom Henry, Toledo Blade)

“Being an environmental reporter can be one of the most important and rewarding things anyone can do.” (Peter Lord, Providence Journal)

"There’s a saying among reporters who cover the environment: environmental stories don’t break. They ooze….unlike newspapers, television networks don’t recognize environmental reporting as a real beat, one that deserves specialists….Viewers deserve experts in this kind of coverage. It’s too bad that, in most cases, that’s not what they’re getting.” (Natalie Pawelski, CNN environmental correspondent)

“When done well, there is no more compelling, intimate and resonant medium [than radio] for telling stories and for telling environmental stories in particular. (Peter Thompson, freelance journalist)

“The beat suffers the same problem the science beat does: It’s always tough selling editors, who are attuned to the fast and new, on stories about slow-moving incremental changes….the old reporting mantras….Question authority. Think global Act local. And follow the money. A good story will emerge.” (Christy George, Oregon Public Broadcasting)

“My hope is that there will be more specialized journalists covering environmental stories.” (Jacques A. Rivard, Societe Radio-Canada, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

“I have come to understand that I am documenting one of the crucial, overarching events of the 21st century….[global warming] is a magnificent and urgent story just beginning to be told. In time, each of us will see it.” (Gary Braasch, photojournalist)

“China’s media agencies are still regarded as the government’s throat and tongue….News agencies receive government support and resources to help in reporting.” (Sun Yu, editor of Fortune China magazine)

Read the entire Winter 2002 issue at http://nieman.harvard.edu/. (A 4.3 mB Adobe Acrobat^tm version of the issue is also available).