Reflective Report

INTRODUCTION
The media play an important role in shaping the publics beliefs of the significance of climate change. “Public perception and attitudes with regard to those domains are significantly influenced by representations…conveyed by the press” (Carvalho 2007:223). But what should the media be doing?
There is too much focus on climate change itself- the facts of the past, present and future devastations. What must be taken predominantly into consideration is what can be done to sustain a habitable planet. The following passage will be broken down into three sections. The first will go into more detail about the role of the media in climate change, the issues involved for the journalist when reporting on climate change and what the most appropriate ways are to report on climate change. Reuters will be used in this passage as an example of modern day journalism’s take on climate change. The second will describe the production process of the package that I created on aviation and solar power. The third will discuss what I could have done better in line with the guidelines given to me by Algoa FM, the local commercial radio station that will air some of the climate change packages done by the radio class.

SECTION 1: EXAMINING ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM
According to studies (Carvalho 2007:227), the number of newspaper articles on climate change has dramatically increased. In the newspaper the guardian from the period 1985 to 2001, the amount of newspaper articles had gone from 0 to over 350. This type of increase intensifies the public’s perception of climate change, and also leaves many different opinions to choose from on the various issues concerned with climate change. It can be said that is surely for the best, as it allows the public to take a stance, and then react on that stance to bring about change. But then the question must be raised as to how objective the articles are, and whether the facts are true, or scandalized. It is believed by Carvalho (2007) that research has become more sophisticated which has allowed journalists to report with a more informed and comprehensive approach. “The media act as secondary validators by reporting on and diffusing the factual claims of primary validators (social institutions)” (Carvalho 2007:225). If this is the case, then the information that the journalists report on is as good as the information that they receive in the first place. But then lies the issue of bias. Journalists can fall into the trap of subjectivity by taking a certain stance on climate change, and building a story around that stance. The problem is of course that the public may take this as fact, and therefore shape their understanding of climate change around this, irrelevant of how informed the journalist was when producing the article. According to Rob O’Donoghue (2010), a specialist on climate change who came in to talk to the radio class, “Journalists scandalize global warming, scientists see this and a tyranny therefore forms.” Therefore it is the task of the journalists to produce stories in accordance with the findings of the scientists, so that an accurate reflection of what is going on in climate change can be understood by the public.
I believe Reuters to be a good example of journalistic reporting that offers stories that are well informed and objective. As my package was on solar power and aviation, I found a story from their website (Fribault, 2010) that was on the first solar powered flight. It was backed up with numerous sources and various forms of media. Sources included those from the Swiss President of the project, and the pilot of the plane. There were several pictures to depict the event, and then there was a forum for ordinary citizens at the end of the article to discuss the quality article and the significance of the event. There is also a section that presents a link to similar stories, with these stories bearing similar journalistic techniques. This is a successful way of reporting on climate change as it allows the public to become part of the reporting. According to Haas’s Public Philosophy (2007:27), journalists should see citizens as active participants in the democratic process, which is becoming of great importance in order to push for the realization that it is the ordinary citizens who can bring about change, and importantly in this case, climate change. Reuters are careful to not move away from objectivity, by stating facts that are backed up by trusted sources.

SECTION 2: DESCRIBING THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
We were informed by Algoa FM and the South East African Climate Consortium (SEACC) to cover environmental journalism using mainstream media conventions. My understanding of mainstream media conventions includes objectivity, expert sources and professionalism. In light of this, I ensured that my package eliminated opinions and governmental criticism, and included relevant and factual information backed up by expert sources.
Throughout the course of the term, we enhanced our skills in editing and interview techniques. We refreshed our knowledge on the importance of ambience, and where to put it and how long for. Ambience is crucial as it creates a more illustrated picture of the story and keeps the audience interested. Our interviews were usually between 15-20 minutes and we were required to cut each interview down to roughly two minutes in order to create a final six minute piece. This was good editing practice in determining what to keep for the benefit of the audience. When it came to interviewing, we were encouraged to inform the interviewee about exactly what the purpose of the package was for, and then to undergo the interview with well researched questions and information. The importance of follow up questions during and after the interview was also emphasized.
With all the guidelines and skills in place, I went about the production of my package. Firstly, I had to choose my topic, and after hearing about the first solar powered flight that had recently occurred, and the benefits of solar power that had been brought up in discussion in class, I thought combining the two would be a good topic. From there I did further research into what happened to make the flight possible, the benefits of solar power, and the progress of solar power production and usage in South Africa. Then I had to choose who to interview. A source that immediately came to mind was my Dad, Sam Sizeland, who is well informed in the aviation industry as he has years of experience as a pilot and has recently completed a masters degree in financial aviation. I managed to get the greatest amount of detail from him about what companies are doing to go ‘greener’, and whether or not there is a future for solar power in aviation. I then turned to more local sources to gain a better understanding of solar power usage in South Africa. I got hold of new energy specialist Dr Foster through the contacts that SEACC provided for us. He spoke to me about why solar power isn’t being used to its greatest potential, and the extent to which large companies in South Africa are attempting to go greener. Bool Smuts was my third interview, and I found his contact on the internet through the landmark foundation of conservation organization in East London, of which he works for. He complemented Dr Foster by speaking of what the Eastern Cape is doing in response to the heavy costs of solar power usage. The final stage of the production process was to bring the interviews together to form a six minute package. As my Dad had the most substantial amount of information, I used his voice the most. At times, I mixed the sequence of the voices rather than having one interview after the other, to make the link between aviation and solar power more effective. As a good sign off, I included the sound of a plane taking off. Otherwise I didn’t feel that there were good opportunities for ambience, especially since the interviews were done over the phone. In attempting to keep the audience interested, I made my narration short and to the point, and included dramatic statements from the interview such as ‘it is clear that we are poisoning ourselves’ and ‘you know it just wouldn’t happen.’
I chose this story mainly because of the great potential that South Africa has for solar power production, and why it is not being used to its full potential. I have a personal interest in aviation, and as aviation is one of the leading contributors to the emissions of fossil fuels, I felt it appropriate to see what alternatives there are, one of which is solar power.

SECTION 3: PRAXIS: THEORY INTO PRACTICE
In assessing my package, I needed to ask myself, ‘what makes good radio storytelling?’ In my opinion good radio storytelling is entertaining, it provides something to the benefit of the public, it is well researched, concise and to the point, with faultless editing and interesting sounds.
So in light of what constitutes good radio, what were my shortcomings? I believe that in terms of content, it would have helped to have a couple more interview sources to make the package more reliable, as I only had two experts in the field of solar power and one in the field of aviation. A variety of sources would have made the information more convincing, and perhaps more interesting. Also, the interviews were all phone ins, which lowers the quality of sound. A voice from Grahamstown would have been useful, not only because the interview would have had better sound quality, but because Grahamstown is an area in the Eastern Cape, and therefore an area of concern. All in all however I believe that I followed the guidelines set by Algoa FM and SEACC, by staying objective and by having reliable and knowledgeable sources. The editing was sound, the ambience was used appropriately at the end, and a better understanding of the benefits of solar power and what is being done in the Eastern Cape to make solar power more readily available can definitely be achieved by listening to this package.
The agency that we as a radio class constructed at the beginning of the year, gave us the necessary guidelines to produce stories that will provide fair and accurate stories to the benefit of the public. It largely leans towards development journalism, and this way of producing stories, rather than Algoa’s guidelines of mainstream journalism, could have been an alternative way of producing the stories. According to Banda (2006:11), public service broadcasting involves universal accessibility, good programming and independent programme-making. Development journalism on the other hand, involves focusing on remote areas, cultural identity and community, distance from the influence of the state, and the value of independent and democratic participation. So with this in mind there a couple of reasons to have used development journalism. If articles focused on concentrated areas, like the Eastern Cape for instance, the public could work together a lot easier to promote the issue of climate change in that area. By including Bool Smuts into my package, I feel that to an extent I have done this. Also, since it is the public that is affected by climate change and the public are the audience for these packages, these ordinary citizens should play a part in the production of these packages. The community should set the agenda; they should hear what they want to hear. Although it can be said that this can only work to a certain extent because it is the scientists that know the facts behind global warming, and therefore these facts need to be reported in order for the public to have an exact idea of what is happening to the environment, and what steps must be taken to rectify the situation.

CONCLUSION
From producing the package I learnt that there is great potential for solar power in South Africa, as it is one of the greatest producers of it in the world. However, it is not used to its full potential due to heavy costs, but plans are in motion to make it cheaper through development projects. I also learnt that aviation is some way away from introducing solar power on a large scale, but with the recent flight, and plans for another flight in the near future, there is still hope. In the meantime, large companies such as Virgin Atlantic are becoming more fuel efficient and are introducing various ways to go more ‘green’.
The media play a very important in shaping people’s beliefs of the impact of global warming on the environment. Therefore if what the journalists produce is subjective and not necessarily true, it becomes an issue that needs addressing. Journalists have in the past scandalized the issue of climate change, rather than producing stories that can provide genuine information that can rectify the issue of global warming. I believe that the packages that the radio class has produced, including mine, perhaps despite its shortcomings, goes some way towards showing that objective and factual stories that provide use for the public can still be entertaining and interesting to listening to, and this in turn can prompt the audience, the public, to contribute towards aiding the issue of climate change.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Banda, F. 2006. An Appraisal of the Applicability of Development Journalism in the Context of PBS. Rhodes University.
Carvalho, A. 2007. Ideological Cultures and media discourses on Scientific Knowledge. Public Understanding of Science, 16: 223-243.
Fribault, V. 2010. Aircraft Completes First Solar Powered Flight. Retrieved 24 August, 2010, from C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\My Documents\Radio\Aircraft completes first solar-powered night flight Reuters.mht
Haas, T. 2007. A public philosophy for public journalism in The pursuit of Public journalism: theory, practice and criticism. Routledge: New York.