Africa > As global temperatures soar, UN-backed initiative recognises media’s pivotal role in shaping public perception, govt response

As global temperatures soar, UN-backed initiative recognises media’s pivotal role in shaping public perception, govt response

Published 12:55 on July 21, 2023  /  Last updated at 12:55 on July 21, 2023  /  Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Australia, Canada, China, Climate Talks, EMEA, International, Japan, Mexico, Middle East, New Zealand, Other APAC, Paris Article 6, South & Central, South Korea, Switzerland, US, Voluntary

(Free read) - As global temperatures rise to record levels, a UN-backed initiative has recognised media’s pivotal role in both shaping public perceptions to heatwaves and climate change and influencing the response of policymakers.

As global temperatures rise to record levels, a UN-backed initiative has recognised media’s pivotal role in both shaping public perceptions to heatwaves and climate change and influencing the response of policymakers.

Recognising the media’s power to drive change, the Global Heat Health Information Network underscores the importance of framing heat stories within the broader context of climate change.

Such framing, it says, helps to connect events for the audience and can promote faster climate action, addressing mitigation and management strategies.

“How the media depicts the risks and impacts of extreme heat matters. Done well, it can help spur action and save lives.”

The Network, an initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is an independent, voluntary, and member-driven forum of scientists, practitioners, and policymakers focused on improving capacity to protect populations from the avoidable health risks of extreme heat in a changing climate.

Given the recent surge in extreme heat events, the Network has outlined a number of recommendations on how to report on these more frequent occurrences.

It urges journalists to share locally-relevant health advice and resources. Information such as accessing cooling centres, utilising low-cost cooling techniques, and highlighting resources for long-term risk reduction, like weatherisation programmes or legal protections for renters, can be life-saving, the Network says.

As well, reliable, peer-reviewed sources like The Lancet can provide essential, evidence-based information for such reports.

The Network said its guidelines highlight the fact that heat’s adverse effects are not universal.

Vulnerable groups, such as those with lower incomes or sub-standard housing, can face dangers even before the general population feels threatened, with numerous factors, from age and race to health status and access to resources, increasing vulnerability to heat.

The impacts of heat also extend beyond direct health risks and can adversely affect human behaviour, spread of diseases, and essential social infrastructure including emergency health services.

Beyond that, it can increase the risk of wildfires, ground-level ozone smog, and flash floods.

Among the recommendations offered for media coverage:

  • Instead of waiting for an extreme heat event to begin or end before publishing coverage, create awareness in advance – both seasonally and before a projected heat event.
  • Instead of focusing only on high daytime temperatures, remind your audience that high nighttime temperatures can be extremely dangerous – even if it’s less hot than during the day – for those who don’t have adequate cooling at home.
  • Instead of focusing on heat only in outdoor settings, remember that indoors can be hotter than outdoors, and excess indoor heat is deadly.
  • Instead of showing scenes of crowded beaches, swimming pools or fountains, show people struggling in the heat, and its negative and dangerous impacts.
  • Instead of only showing images of heat impacts, strike a balance by also showing positive action to mitigate or manage risk.
  • Instead of focusing only on heat stroke or mortality figures, look at the broad range of direct and indirect heat impacts on health and society.
  • Instead of focusing only on heatwaves, balance coverage between extreme heat events and chronic heat exposure and risk.
  • Instead of conducting interviews only in hospital settings, find people where they are dealing with heat in various contexts.
  • Instead of only interviewing those in national or international expert roles, connect with local experts and researchers and responsible authorities.
  • Instead of asking sources directly about heat and climate change, ask about circumstantial factors that contribute to how they experience extreme heat.
  • Instead of asking sources if they have experienced heat stroke or illness, ask sources if they’d experienced heat-specific symptoms.

The Network said the guidelines serve as a comprehensive roadmap for journalists and editors to provide accurate, holistic, and actionable information about heat’s dangers and how to combat them.

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