For the last two years I have worked for Carbon Brief, a website specialising in analysing all things climate change. Today is my last day. Here are a few reflections on a how things have changed in that time.
In 2012, that’s how most of my phone interviews would start. Two and half years later, things have changed. More than a bit.
What is a ‘blogger’? Like the poor, confused, press officer invariably on the end of the phone, I’m not all that sure. But I’m pretty sure I started as one, and ended up as something else: a journalist, perhaps?
As I reflect on my time at Carbon Brief, I’m increasingly convinced I ended up somewhere in between. Somewhere in the ill-defined world of ‘new media’. And i’m increasingly sure that’s a good thing for those trying to communicate climate change.
“Hi. My name’s Mat Hope and I write for a climate change blog called Carbon Brief. I was just hoping to ask you a few questions about…. That’s right, a blog... It’s like a website…”
In 2012, that’s how most of my phone interviews would start. Two and half years later, things have changed. More than a bit.
What is a ‘blogger’? Like the poor, confused, press officer invariably on the end of the phone, I’m not all that sure. But I’m pretty sure I started as one, and ended up as something else: a journalist, perhaps?
As I reflect on my time at Carbon Brief, I’m increasingly convinced I ended up somewhere in between. Somewhere in the ill-defined world of ‘new media’. And i’m increasingly sure that’s a good thing for those trying to communicate climate change.
From blogger to journalist
There are some key differences in the way people seem to imagine a stereotypical ‘blogger’ and how I worked. As a consequence, I began to feel a gap growing between what I was doing, and what I was calling myself. Something had to change.
For starters, I was a full-time, salaried member of staff. I got into the office early, sometimes left late, and at no point wrote something while wearing pyjamas.
Furthermore, the vast majority of bloggers self-edit their work. A full-time editor saw, chopped, changed, and reassembled my work (with good cause), every single time.
For starters, I was a full-time, salaried member of staff. I got into the office early, sometimes left late, and at no point wrote something while wearing pyjamas.
Furthermore, the vast majority of bloggers self-edit their work. A full-time editor saw, chopped, changed, and reassembled my work (with good cause), every single time.
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| Source: OrbitMedia |
Finally, and this is admittedly anecdotal, when you tell some people you’re a “blogger”, they assume you mean “unemployed”. They hear it in the same way I imagine many people in LA hear, “I’m an actor”: as an aspiration rather than an actual job.
None of that matters in itself. But I found it did matter if I wanted to get the best stories and do the best analysis. Try ringing the Treasury’s press office and saying you’re a blogger - see how fast they get back to you.
So I became a journalist. Or, should I say, I started calling myself what I was already busy being: a journalist. But not a ‘normal’ journalist.
There were great advantages to this transformation.
Carbon Brief never has - and I highly doubt ever will - produce a paper version. Why would it? For some organisations that’s enough to disqualify you from press conferences. That’s annoying and more than a little short-sighted.
But being a purely web-based journalist, the sine qua non for new media, has many advantages. You get access while being able to publish whenever you want. You can produce authoritative material while being nimble enough to update as you go. You are in many ways like any other media source, but you don’t have the terrible overheads of industry clinging to the concept of a physical format.
None of that matters in itself. But I found it did matter if I wanted to get the best stories and do the best analysis. Try ringing the Treasury’s press office and saying you’re a blogger - see how fast they get back to you.
Into new media
There were great advantages to this transformation.
Carbon Brief never has - and I highly doubt ever will - produce a paper version. Why would it? For some organisations that’s enough to disqualify you from press conferences. That’s annoying and more than a little short-sighted.
But being a purely web-based journalist, the sine qua non for new media, has many advantages. You get access while being able to publish whenever you want. You can produce authoritative material while being nimble enough to update as you go. You are in many ways like any other media source, but you don’t have the terrible overheads of industry clinging to the concept of a physical format.
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| Source: Guardian, ABC newspaper circulation figures |
Most of all, you can use, analyse, and present data. Lots and lots of data. And in the climate change world, there’s no shortage of data.
That’s significant, because climate change is a subject where science, media, and the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the internet collide. It’s like the dorkiest, angriest, dinner party you’ve ever been to, with added twitter.
Data can cut through this melee, to an extent. But only if it’s accurately generated, clearly explained, and properly presented.
Academics tend to be really good at the first part. Journalists are often very good at the second. The new media? That’s part three.
How often are people advised to “show, don’t tell”? Well, traditional journalism does a lot of telling. That’s partly due to the restrictions of the format, partly due to the training of its practitioners.
New media, on the other hand, can show. And in some cases, it can show things beautifully:
For this to happen, particularly on an issue as complicated as climate change, you sometimes need people that aren’t journalists. People with other knowledge, experience and specialties.
But at the same time, you need to give people salaries. You need to give them an office. You need to give them an editor. You need to tell them how and why they need to really work at the good side of journalism - the writing, the ethics, the graft.
In other words, you need them not to be bloggers.
Carbon Brief does all that. I think it’s useful precisely because of that. I hope other people do, too. So, thanks Carbon Brief. I feel privileged to have been part of such a project.
I’ll be staying tuned, I have little doubt the best is to come.
The rise of data
Data can cut through this melee, to an extent. But only if it’s accurately generated, clearly explained, and properly presented.
Academics tend to be really good at the first part. Journalists are often very good at the second. The new media? That’s part three.
How often are people advised to “show, don’t tell”? Well, traditional journalism does a lot of telling. That’s partly due to the restrictions of the format, partly due to the training of its practitioners.
New media, on the other hand, can show. And in some cases, it can show things beautifully:
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| Source: Carbon Brief, Rosamund Pearce |
For this to happen, particularly on an issue as complicated as climate change, you sometimes need people that aren’t journalists. People with other knowledge, experience and specialties.
But at the same time, you need to give people salaries. You need to give them an office. You need to give them an editor. You need to tell them how and why they need to really work at the good side of journalism - the writing, the ethics, the graft.
In other words, you need them not to be bloggers.
Carbon Brief does all that. I think it’s useful precisely because of that. I hope other people do, too. So, thanks Carbon Brief. I feel privileged to have been part of such a project.
I’ll be staying tuned, I have little doubt the best is to come.
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