Marilyn’s Recent Comments

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  Why do we care what line enviro journalists walk?

  I've been chewing on this question intensely, since a colleague who also writes about environmental issues was interviewed for acceptance to UC Berkeley's journalism school. He was asked by a panel member who would decide his educational fate whether he could be objective when it came to reporting, given that he had worked for an environmental publication.

  The interviewer told him that, given his work history, he would have difficulty finding a job--even if he got into this prestigious grad school--because he would be seen as an environmentalist.

  A week or so later I saw "Big Coal" author Jeff Goodell speak on C-Span's BookTV. In the first three minutes he bent over backward telling his audience that he was "not an environmentalist," as though this gave his damning account of coal more street cred. He also said that he'd been asked by his editor at The New York Times Sunday Magazine to write a story on Appalachia and coal, which had inspired his book, BECAUSE he had no experience writing about the environment.

  What in the world is going on here? Do business reporters have to prove that they are not pro-business before they get into grad school, or get hired to write about any subject at all? Would Forbes hire someone specifically because they had NOT covered business issues before? Business reporters simply don't have to engage in this navel gazing waste of time. We should be asking why environmental reporters do--not asking them to defend their reportage.

  I find this entire conversation about "Walking the Line" when it comes to environmental coverage offensive. Further, this adherence by those interviewed in Grist  to "science-based reporting" as some sort of shield against subjectivity is, to my mind, simply ridiculous. Editors who assign stories are making subjective decisions about their merit. Any journalist who's honest with him or herself knows that a million bits of information come into play in a story and subjective decisions are made at all points about what merits attention. Why should we have to apologize or lie about our interest in or concern for environmental issues?
  On Top environment reporters talk about journalism vs. activism posted 3 years, 2 months ago 6 Responses