Green News
No Knowledge Required
By Daniel Muniz

CBS News placed the above classified ad in Jounalism.com in its search for a reporter to cover environmental issues. For people who take journalistic standards seriously, such an ad is disturbing. However, the media has already discovered what America really wants which is entertainment over substance.

Before the advent of cable television and the Internet, there were very few news outlets and media sources. The choices people had were limited but there were also sharp lines that divided news from the fluff.

Today is totally different and there are a multitude of outlets where people can instantaneously gather news and information. With all of these choices, more people have been slowly rejecting the traditional press and turning to places that focus more on the entertainment aspect of the news. And for some, late night television and Comedy Central has now become the primary, if not the only, source for current events.

So instead of an objective journalist, the demand is now for someone who has the “coolness” factor down pat.

Although reporting is still necessary, storytelling takes precedence. And that’s where the “hip and the irreverent” come into play because presentation and delivery is far more important than reporting the facts.

The big problem with covering the “eco beat” in this fashion is that enthusiasm for the environment becomes more important than the enthusiasm for science. And besides, knowledge is not a requirement. Why let science get in the way when you are talking about the environment.

Unfortunately, there has been carelessness by the media in their attempt to be a part of a trendy crusade. The result is an oversimplification of just about any complex scientific phenomenon.

For example, global warming activists, politicians, Hollywood movie stars, and the press jumped on Hurricane Katrina as solid evidence that climate change causes devastating storms. There is a huge amount of science involved in understanding tropical cyclones and because of the lack of historical data and the big holes in our own knowledge of how our climate really works, there is still so much more to observed and analyzed. But that is totally irrelevant because it is so much more sensational to claim that global warming is destroying the planet.

However, Hurricane Katrina occurred in 2005 but the subsequent hurricane seasons of 2006 and 2007 were so incredibly lame even though we are supposed to be in the middle of this so-called global warming crisis. In fact, quite a number of climate change activists quickly backpedaled from their unsubstantiated assertions. Al Gore now claims that he never insinuated that global warming causes hurricanes.

There are so many more examples but the point is that science has to be an integral part in explaining the environment but that hasn’t happened because sensationalism draws crowds. And the oversimplification of science works perfectly especially for an audience of the uninitiated because nothing ever has to be explained in depth. All that is needed is a simple but bogus explanation of why a natural phenomenon occurs.

In fact, knee-jerk reactions often replace scientific understanding. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada quickly jumped to the conclusion that the out of control wildfires of 2007 in southern California were the direct result of global warming. At first, the media excitedly harped on the terrible toll that climate change was having on the planet.

The press then jumped off that bandwagon as fast as they got on it when it was discovered that some of the fires were started by arsonists. And after some embarrassing research, the media reluctantly revealed that the fiercely strong Santa Ana Winds, also known as the Devil Winds, that had fanned the flames had been documented for centuries and that the Native Americans had been aware of them for about a thousand years.

But as long as you have “oozing enthusiasm” nothing else matters including the facts.

There is nothing wrong with entertainment as long as the public is aware that when it involves the environment, science is definitely not part of the equation.

Any opinions or views expressed herein belong solely to the author and does not represent any employer, organization, political party, governmental agency, or any other entity and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site owner or its participants.