Thread by @risj_oxford

Kicking off today's talk on climate change coverage at #ijf23. It's hosted by our own @MitaliLive and it features @amrutabyatnal from @TRF @Bilal_A_Mateen from @wellcometrust & @Sondreus from @TheEconomist

📺 Watch journalismfestival.com/programme/2023…
🧵 Key points in thread

"The problem with using official figures for covid is that you can underrepresent the countries with the least resources to fight. This can also happen with climate change ," says @Sondreus from @TheEconomist, presenting this amazing death toll tracker economist.com/graphic-detail…

Journalist @amrutabyatnal from @TRF speaking about this piece she wrote on the impact of global inequalities on the death toll of the pandemic around the world nationalgeographic.com/science/articl…

"Climate change is not tomorrow's problem. It's today's problem. Climate change is a public health crisis. Millions of people are dying from non-optimal temperatures today," says @Bilal_A_Mateen from @wellcometrust

"A lot of the data we need to report on climate is still missing, and the local context that local journalists can provide might be the first line of defence against climate change. It can help scientists to know where to look," says @Bilal_A_Mateen from @wellcometrust #ijf23

"If journalists don't provide the context for the data on climate change and other topics, someone else will and that won't be good for society," says @Sondreus from @TheEconomist #ijf23

"With climate change we journalists face a twin problem. On the one hand you have a very physical reality with very high temperatures and extreme events, and then you have the human angle that journalists have to report on the ground," says @Sondreus from @TheEconomist #ijf23

"The official death toll from the heatwaves in India was ridiculously low. So as a journalist you have to investigate and look at the people who are the most impacted: for example, migrant workers, women and children," says @amrutabyatnal from @TRF #ijf23

"Scientists need journalists and journalists need scientists. Climate change is a real challenge for researchers. We should be more open and share our code and findings in a better way. This is a challenge that needs to be met," says @Bilal_A_Mateen from @wellcometrust #ijf23

"For climate journalists it's important to know who your allies are both at the local and the global level. The lines between big picture and local knowledge is already blurring," says @amrutabyatnal from @TRF #ijf23

Any recommendations from the panel to follow climate change?

From @Bilal_A_Mateen: @wellcometrust @risj_oxford
From @amrutabyatnal: @scroll_in
From @Sondreus: @FT @nytimes and good local journalists in your community
#ijf23

"There will always be some pressure to publish official figures. And we journalists should be militant and say, 'No, we should pause and verify that.' Because that's the only way to tell a truthful story," says @Sondreus who covered covid death toll for @TheEconomist
#ijf23