Energy, climate and the media a discussion with CBC’s Laura Lynch

Source: David Dodge · GREEN ENERGY FUTURES · | February 24, 2021

Energy vs Climate tackles energy and climate change in the media – What gets lost in translation

Almost 20 years ago CKUA Radio aired the Climate Change Show a 70-episode series aired during several prime time slots.

Ok, a little bias here as the former host and producer of the series, but there was nothing like it on the airwaves at the time and surprisingly the audience reaction was very positive.

The format was conceived by CKUA broadcaster Tony King who brought an extremely popular sentiment to the series.

This was before social media began to serve as the ideal host for malcontents, climate deniers, and purveyors of all sorts of conspiracy theories.

At the time the media was still giving disproportionate airtime to climate deniers. It would be almost 20 years before the Guardian would consciously decide to halt coverage of climate change denial and create a dedicated team to cover climate change. Of course, numerous smaller publications like the Narwal had been covering climate too.

What on Earth Debuts in 2020

Other major media outlets followed suit and last year veteran CBC journalist Laura Lynch launched a pilot called “What on Earth” on the CBC.

Our partners at Energy vs Climate invited Laura Lynch on to their live webinar podcast to talk about climate change and the media.

“It’s been for me after all of these years of running around the world, one of the, one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done as a journalist,” says Lynch in the podcast.

“What I do feel fortunate about is that our program starts from the premise that climate change is real, that climate change is caused by human activities. So, we don’t have to be trying to do false balance and defend that every single week. We start from that as our, as our beginning point,” says Lynch.