1/ THREAD ON OUR BUSHFIRES VIDEOS. It was clear in December that the bushfires in Australia weren’t only a profound human & environmental crisis – they also highlighted the tensions between politics, business, the media and science within the broader issue of climate change.
2/ On @BBCOS, we decided to cover the story in great detail and, to our surprise, in the last month our videos have been watched millions of times and we've been deluged with messageS about them. I thought it'd be useful to put them all in one place. Here you go.
3/ We knew something unusual was up when a clip of us was posted on YouTube and started to be heavily shared. In it we explored PM Scott Morrison and the coal industry. Plus people asking ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ while he was on holiday.
4/ Later than same week in Dec, Australia was the hottest place in the world, two volunteer firefighters had died and the PM was still on holiday. It clearly hit a nerve. This clip became one of the most viewed BBC News clips in Australia in 2019.
bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-…
bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-…
5/ Into January, and the political pressure on Scott Morrison was acute. He was heckled repeatedly as he visited rural towns. As well as posting shorter videos on twitter, we put up longer round-ups on YouTube. This one has been viewed 1.8 million times.
6/ There was now a PR battle over the gov’s response to the crisis. Scott Morrison’s team put out a video outlining what had been done, his critics pushed back hard. This round-up also contained devastating reports of the human and environmental costs.
7/ Under pressure for his response, PM Scott Morrison made clear he accepted that reducing emissions and controlling climate change will reduce the risk of crises like this. We found it hard to square that with what people in his party have been saying.
8/ The issue of hazard reduction burning has become highly-politicised. This is when scrub is deliberately burnt so that when a main fire comes through it has less fuel and so less potential to worsen. Claims being made on this issue were not accurate.
9/ By last week, there was much inaccurate information being shared. Including a map that appeared to show Australia on fire. In fact it was a ‘visualisation’. This round-up took that on.
10/ This video has taken on a life of its own. As our videos were being shared more and more, I was receiving message telling me to look at the issue of arson and how the media was ignoring it. So we did look at it.
10/ Finally (til tomorrow at least), you can’t understand this crisis without understanding the Australian coal industry & the politics around it. There is a tension between long-term climate change policy demands and short-term political calculations.
11/ One final thing: all of these videos owe a great deal to the brilliant producers, editors, reporters, directors, sound engineers and camera crews who helped make them. Special mention to @courtbembridge who has worked on every one. More tomorrow.
@courtbembridge 12/ Thanks for all your messages, suggestions and questions about the videos on this thread. Given the amount of interest they're generating, I thought it'd useful to collect all the latest videos from the week of Jan 13. Here they are. #AustralianBushfire
@courtbembridge 13/ We began the week digesting what Scott Morrison had told @abcnews over the weeknd about the bushfire crisis and Australia’s response to climate change - including the controversial way it counts its emissions. There was plenty to consider...
@courtbembridge @abcnews 14/ In many places, the debate over whether climate change is happening and is connected to weather events such as the bushfires is over. Not so in Australia. This week NASA confirmed the last decade was the hottest on record - & had this blunt message.
@courtbembridge @abcnews 15/ On youtube, there’s space for more comprehensive coverage. This 10 min video has been watched hundreds of thousands of times – it’s about how climate scientists are warning the Australia bushfires may be a sign of things to come around the world.
@courtbembridge @abcnews 16/ We also looked the influence of the Rupert Murdoch-owned media in Australia. His son James this week expressed concern about those given a platform by media owned by his father to deny the link between the fires and climate change.
@courtbembridge @abcnews 17/ Scott Morrison and others have argued that whatever Australia does on climate change is next to nothing versus the scale of Chinese emissions. Sir David Attenborough turned to the issue of China in a BBC interview this week.
@courtbembridge @abcnews 18/ Thanks, as ever, to @BBCOS team for producing these videos (esp @courtbembridge & @jamesransley
this week), colleagues such as @Shaimaakhalil & @CliveMyrieBBC who are reporting in Australia, and in particular the many Australians who've talked to us. More from Monday.
this week), colleagues such as @Shaimaakhalil & @CliveMyrieBBC who are reporting in Australia, and in particular the many Australians who've talked to us. More from Monday.
