Ecology and Climate Journalism Workshop by Atölye BİA

taherinima on 2. December 2024

The workshop, held on Nov 4-5, covered the foundational principles and scope of climate and ecology reporting.

BIA News Desk / Türkçesini Oku

With support from Oslo Metropolitan University, the IPS Communication Foundation/bianet recently the Environmental Journalism and Reporting Workshop on Nov 4-5 as part of its Environmental Journalism Training and Reporting Program.

The two-day online workshop, titled “Ecology and Climate Reporting,” was coordinated by Green Gazette Editor-in-Chief Alev Karakartal, who was also an instructor. The workshop featured presentations from Doğu Eroğlu (ortak.org), Selin Uğurtaş (Climate Desk), and Dr. Ümit Şahin (Istanbul Policy Center).

The majority of participants were freelance journalists producing reports in ecology and climate from Artvin, Bursa, Çanakkale, Dersim, Hatay, İstanbul, Muğla, and Zonguldak.

Rights-based climate and ecology reporting

On the first day, Alev Karakartal presented on “Intersecting/Diverging Points and New Concepts in Climate and Ecology Reporting,” emphasizing the need for a rights-based approach to climate and ecology journalism and the importance of using accessible language for the public.

In the second session, Doğu Eroğlu discussed the principles, methods, and tools for crafting effective climate and ecology stories. He highlighted the importance of technical knowledge in a journalist’s field and the ways climate change is conveyed in daily life.

On day two, Selin Uğurtaş addressed identifying and verifying misinformation and “greenwashing” in climate reporting. She examined the evolution of climate denial over time and provided examples of greenwashing as a misleading information type.

In the workshop’s final session, Dr. Ümit Şahin’s presentation, “Where Are We in the Climate Crisis?” offered data and discussions on the climate crisis based on recent academic sources and reports.

After the training, the participants will publish their own articles on various climate issues.

The 2024 cooperation between JMIC/OsloMet and Bianet focus on climate journalism and media monitoring.

Ecology Journalism Project: Meetings with activists and journalists  

taherinima on 20. December 2022

By Tuğçe Yılmaz 

The “Ecology Journalism Project” has been completed with meetings with ecology groups and local press in Mersin, Fındıklı/Rize and Çanakkale in Turkey run by the IPS Communication Foundation/bianet with the support of JMIC. 

As part of the project, a climate journalism workshop and an ecology meeting were held and an ecology article series was published. 

The “Ecology Journalism Project” meeting was held in three cities in the regions of Mediterranean, Black Sea and Marmara, where there is intense ecological destruction, as well as struggle.  

In the three meetings held for the purpose of strengthening the relationship between ecology organizations and national and local press and the relationship between ecology organizations, the difficulties faced by the organizations and their long-term struggles and how the press should report on ecology were discussed. 

Mediterranean Region: Mersin 

On October 28, 2022, environmental and civil society organizations conveyed their experiences and struggles at the first “Ecology Journalism Project” meeting. Academics from the city’s university and journalists were also at the meeting. Özer Akdemir, who has been reporting on ecological issues for many years, made a presentation about “What ecology reporting is and how it is done?” 

Özer Akdemir Journalist & local activists Mersin (Photo: Tuğçe Yılmaz).

Ecology groups in the Mediterranean Region that have been struggling against the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant complained that “their voices are not being heard enough in the national media.” Lawyer Semra Kabasalak from the Eastern Mediterranean Environmental Association said, “We often feel alone in the struggle for the environment, but we want everyone to know that we will continue our struggle until we die.” 

Black Sea Region: Rize/Fındıklı 

Local Journalists and activists Rize/Fındıklı (Photo: Tuğçe Yılmaz).

On November 12, ecology and environmental groups and local journalists in the Black Sea Region attended the “Ecology Journalism Project” meeting. At the meeting, journalist Pelin Cengiz made a presentation about the details of ecology journalism and conveyed the difficulties they faced in reaching the national press.  

Nur Neşe Karahan from the Green Artvin Association said, “We have been struggling for 30 years in Artvin to protect our living spaces and make the public hear about our struggle. Yes, the situation is very difficult and we were silenced in this period when we need to speak up the most, but we have to make a choice: We will either stop this destruction or we will be annihilated.” 

Marmara Region: Çanakkale 

Özgür Gürbüz Journalist & local activists  Çanakkale (Photo: Tuğçe Yılmaz).

The last meeting of the “Ecology Journalism Project” was held in Çanakkale in Marmara Region. Ecology groups and activists, as well as local journalists, attended the meeting on November 30, 2022. Journalist Özgür Gürbüz gave information about what to consider when reporting on the environment and ecology. Ecology groups that attended the meeting conveyed the problems they faced in communicating with the national press.  

Reyhan Erdem from the Kaz Mountain Protection Association said, “We started the struggle in 1997, with the reports that the Çan Thermal Power Plant would be established and set up an environmental platform. In 2007, the second platform was established. However, despite all of our environmental problems, we could not stay together as environmental organizations and environmental committees of mass organizations. I remember the early days when everybody would attend. Now we cannot come together with the same crowd and power.”