John Daley: “Why the Decline and Rebirth of Environmental Journalism Matters”

In Chasidy Hobbs conference to the University of West Florida’s environmental reporting class, she said that environmental reporters were scarce in the journalism community. According to John Daley’s article, “Why the Decline and Rebirth of Environmental Journalism Matters,” this statement is also made true.

In short, the article explains how environmental journalism has declined as well as the return it may take in the near future because of media convergence.

In the article, Camille Feanny, former CNN producer, expressed how the public needs science and environmental news to make informed and intelligent decisions.

The article also said that journalism is becoming another dead zone. “Almost 50,000 journalism jobs across the U.S. have been lost in the past two years.” Journalists may be losing jobs at almost three times the rate of other workers.

Feanny also said she blames recent wars on the decline of environmental journalism. Politicians and news corporations have prioritized war over the environment. In the current times we live in, issues pertaining to the war and economy seem to topple over environmental issues.

Daley’s article also claims that human interest stories such as the Tiger Woods scandal and the “Balloon Boy” incident are more appealing to the public than stories about climate change or pollution.

In a December 2009 Washington Post-ABC News poll, it is revealed that the public is turned off from what scientists and politicians have to say about the environment.

Without environmental journalists, the general public lacks specific gatekeepers that will inform them of environmental trends and issues.