Editors recommend how to cover extreme weather stories
Crédito: Fotografía de cantera | Jeff Walsh | Cass Hodge
Source World Association of News Publishers
Recent devastating wildfires, floods and earthquakes have highlighted the growing risk of extreme weather events, large-scale public health crises and natural hazards. Editors from 15 news organizations gathered at the World News Media Congress in Taipei to exchange ideas on ways to prepare their newsrooms and responses for unexpected disasters.
Globally, concerted efforts are underway to better plan and coordinate responses to reduce the risk of future hazardous events. With the experience of COVID-19 still fresh, what planning should newsrooms be doing now to play their part in any future crisis?
This question underpinned a master class and workshop convened with the support of the International Science Council (ISC) and led by Fergus Bell, during the World News Media Congress in Taiwan in June. The workshop used as its guide the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a mechanism for agreement and planning by UN Member States to seek concrete actions to protect societies from disaster risks
ISC recently led a scientific review of the Framework, making three recommendations that can be applied to the media and news industry:
＊Develop multi-hazard early warning systems to anticipate and reduce the impact of disasters and cascade risks across time scales
＊Pilot new ways of communicating risk information and its implications for risk management and sustainable development.
＊Develop a cadre of genuinely transdisciplinary professionals to expand the interface between science, policy and practice.
Recommendations that emerged from the editors following analysis of the Framework through a news lens include the points that follow:
