Does advocating for a clean environment compromise ethical journalism?

Lauren McCain 

lm176817@ohio.edu 

 

Even the favorable "Science Guy" Bill Nye has admitted it with F-bomb's and a blowtorch: the Earth is heating up. 

2019 was the second warmest year on record from 1880, with an average increase of 2 degrees Fahrenheit globally, according to NASA research. But in a time where politicians encourage distrust in science and passing climate-controlling legislature is regarded as an incredibly liberal idea, do journalists have to remain fully unbiased when reporting on the issue? 

It is the job of a journalist to seek truth and report it, then to deliver the truth to the public neutrally. But does advocating for a cleaner, more environmentally conscious planet compromise a journalist's integrity, even when an inhabitable Earth is at stake? 

In regards to reporting with environmental bias, journalist David Poulson words it well, "I like to drink and breathe." He says that obviously the cleaner the water and air become the better off he is and so it is no question that he "favors the stuff." 

Bill Nye with a blow torch from 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' on HBO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktrr6I3DY0

 
I believe that journalists must continue to report the facts and the science has long been in on climate change. Our biases can shape how we as journalists choose to report on the issue and deliver the facts, and as long as we disclose this information, there should be no shame in admitting that one may be biased in wanting clean air and less trash in the oceans. 

As Poulson says, "The key is for journalists to manage [their] biases and be transparent about them." 

There are undoubtedly journalism purists who will disagree, believing that journalists should simply be a medium for fair information to travel through. A rebuttal is that journalistic ethics have faced compromises far less deserving than the favoring of clean air before. 

The Earth is on a trajectory to face irreversible damage in seven years if humans continue to do nothing to combat carbon emissions. In a nation that has a giant clock ticking down the time left to fix climate change in the most populated city in the country and many continue to do nothing, something has to change. 

In times of international crisis, I believe the truth must be addressed even if many do not want to hear it. I fail to see how admitting to desiring clean air compromises journalistic integrity.