Climate Change: Journalism’s Greatest Challenge
Green Templeton Lectures 2022
Thursday 3 February 2022 17:30Speakers: | Wolfgang Blau |
Location: | EP Abraham Lecture Theatre and Online |
Never before in recorded history did humanity have to respond and adjust to a challenge that is as systemic, global and threatening as climate change. How are news media responding to this challenge? Are there lessons to be learned from covering the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the main operational and ethical questions that journalism is facing now in trying to cover the climate crisis adequately? In this lecture, Wolfgang Blau, co-founder of the new Oxford Climate Journalism Network will give a summary of his year of research into these questions and will present his practical advice to news media.
About the speaker
Wolfgang Blau is an international media manager and journalist. Most recently, he completed a year-long visiting research fellowship with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, focussing on the climate crisis. Prior to this, he was the Global Chief Operating Officer of Condé Nast, publishing brands such as The New Yorker, Vogue, Wired and Vanity Fair in the US, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Before, he was the Executive Director Digital Strategy of the Guardian, award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Germany’s ZEIT ONLINE and a Silicon Valley reporter for Germany’s DIE WELT and ZDF. Wolfgang is an advisor to the UN climate division UNFCCC and a Trustee of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
About the Green Templeton Lectures 2022
The three-part lecture series will be convened by Senior Research Fellow Professor Rasmus Nielsen and Associate Fellow Meera Selva, who lead the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
The climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the critical role journalism can play in disseminating vital information while holding power to account and highlighting the voices of people who are not always heard.
The pandemic has also raised the profile of scientists, who have been called on to stand next to politicians and explain complex, fast-changing data sets to the general public. They have had to ask entire populations to change their behaviours in fundamental ways and have had to deal with heightened public and media scrutiny of their private lives, as well as their work.
This series of lectures will look at the interplay between journalism and science, draw out lessons that can be learned and look at how scientists and journalists can effectively communicate the challenges ahead.
The Green Templeton Lectures 2022 are sponsored by Oxford PharmaGenesis, an independent, award-winning HealthScience communications consultancy. Its colleagues work globally, connected by a unique culture of integrity and compassion. Together, they help their clients bring evidence-based treatments to patients in areas of unmet medical need.
More information
For more information on this lecture, please contact events@gtc.ox.ac.uk.
