Over 20 members of the media sign a Decalogue undertaking to report on climate change
The signatories to the statement are meeting in San Sebastián in the run-up to the ‘Change the Change’ International Conference, one of this year’s main events in this field.
The document, which other media and communication groups can still sign up to, is driven by the ECODES Foundation and the Dialectic Mediation of Social Communication (MDCS) Research Group at the Complutense University of Madrid.
Some twenty members of the media have signed the “Media Statement on Climate Change, a document setting out ten key recommendations when reporting and writing on this phenomenon in the media.
The process to prepare this Decalogue dates back to the end of 2018. The Ecology and Development Foundation (ECODES), working with the Dialectic Mediation of Social Communication (MDCS) Research Group at the Complutense University of Madrid, gathered together researchers and communication professionals in order to prepare a Decalogue of recommendations on how to report climate change (see summary video here).
The participation process came to the fruition in the document presented in San Sebastián today. This statement seeks to redress the current imbalance between the challenge of climate change facing humanity as a whole and its lack of presence in the daily news that reaches the public. It emerged from the need for “a greater presence of this problem in the media, both quantitatively and qualitatively”, according to the organisers behind the statement, and aware that “good journalistic practice is crucial to generate a quality social debate to help us to address it”.
The presentation of the Decalogue has taken place on the eve of the Change the Change Conference, where, from 6 to 8 March, the different aspects to be taken into account to combat climate change will be discussed. It will be one of the main events of the year in this field.
The Basque Minister for the Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing, Iñaki Arriola, the Deputy Minister for the Environment, the Conversations Director at the Ecology and Development Foundation (ECODES), Cristina Monge, and the researcher from the Dialectic Mediation of Social Communication (MDCS) research group, Gemma Teso, along with representatives of the media signatories, took part in the presentation, organised in conjunction with the Basque Government.
The following members of the media have already signed up to the Decalogue, which can still be signed by those others members of the media through this website:
Agencia Efe
Atresmedia
APIA (Assocation of Environmental Journalists)
Cadena COPE
CARTV
Ctxt
EiTB
El Correo
El Diario Vasco
El País
El Periódico de Catalunya
eltiempo.es
Ethic
Europa Press
Gara
Grupo Noticias
Infolibre
La Razón
La Vanguardia
RTVE
Servimedia
TV3
Voz Pópuli
