Environmental Reporting

There are increasing opportunities for journalists who can, along with their writing and reporting skills, also offer specialized knowledge. Additional expertise makes a reporter more valuable to a radio or TV news organization, and that translates into higher salaries and jobs in larger markets. This chapter explores some of the specialties that are particularly attractive to radio and TV news.

The growing concern for the environment in the past decade has encouraged broadcast news managers to allocate more news to the subject. In many newsrooms, the environment is still covered by general-assignment reporters, but more and more news managers are hiring broadcast journalists who have become familiar with environmental problems. Knowledge of the subject can be acquired in college but reporters often gain their expertise simply by taking the time to learn about the complex issues.

There are numerous periodicals dealing with every aspect of the environment, and reporters intent on learning about environ- mental issues should spend many hours in the library or should subscribe to the publications. A wide variety of environmental seminars also are offered throughout the country by private and government groups. The Environmental Health Center issues a newsletter. “Green wire” is a news service offering stories about the environment, and the Society of Environmental journalists provides help and resources for journalists trying to improve their knowledge of environmental issues. The Radio and Television News Directors Association frequently discusses the environment at national and regional meetings. There also are helpful computer data bases, such as the Toxic Release Inventory, which stores information on 366 toxic chemicals.

CNN Correspondent Debra Potter, who covers environmental stories, believes no beat is more important. She says “broadcasters owe it to their audiences to cover the subject because it touches viewers and listeners where they live.”

Potter says communities throughout the nation are wrestling with environmental issues such as waste disposal and water quality. She notes polls show that Americans believe that the environment is one of the five most important issues facing the nation. She stresses that environmental reporters who know and understand the issues-who know where to look and which questions to ask- get a jump ahead on environmental stories. She also notes that environmental issues are difficult to explain and that environmental reporters must act responsibly “by not raising false hopes or unfounded fears.”

Bob Engelmann of Scripps-Howard newspaper says that covering the environment is like covering any other complicated important issue. He advises following these steps:

• Learn the issue. 2. Maintain skepticism.
• Seek out all viewpoints.
• Ask probing questions.
• Report the story as accurately and as fairly as possible.

ABC News Correspondent Jeff Greenfield says that unless reporters covering the environment completely understand the various aspects of the story, they would be “better off not doing it at all.” He believes that if reporters misinform people about politicians, they do not cause too much damage. “But,” he adds, “If you falsely report to the community that children are at risk because of something in the schools or the land or water you have done much harm.” At the same time, Greenfield notes that reporters who fail to inform the public about a real risk do even greater harm.

The editor of Freedom Forum Journal, Craig Le May, says environ- mental reporters must “look at what local industries are doing-how they make and transport products, how they do business.” He also warns reporters that much of the environmental information available is from press releases, which are not reliable.

Le May says that reporters must search through all the public relations and make sense of the issues. He notes that the rule for cultivating sources is the same as for other types of assignments: “Get the best people and find out what they have at stake in what you are reporting.” He warns, for example, that researchers at universities are often funded by organizations with a fixed point of view, so reporters have to be skeptical of their findings.

Le May also urges reporters to beware of trade groups that “masquerade as environmental organizations.” He notes that the National Wetlands Coalition sounds like an environmental group, but it actually is a lobby group for the largest oil, gas, and utility companies.

Robert Logan, the director of the Science Journalism Center at the University of Missouri, also urges reporters to be “skeptical of everybody. Everyone is selling something,” he warns, “even if they are not into making money.” Logan says reporters should remember that the investigative rule “Follow the money to get to the bottom of something” is bad advice for environmental reporting. He suggests instead, “Follow the best scientific evidence first, and then look for the money.”