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Unesco-håndbog vil lære afrikanske journalister at se de lokale historier fra business til forbrug og sundhed, som udfolder sig på baggrund af klimaforandringerne.

PARIS 10. January 2014 (UNESCO): African media can and should do more to tell the story of climate change, observes a new UNESCO publication, titled Climate Change in Africa: A Guidebook for Journalists.

“This guidebook is part of UNESCO’s overall effort to raise awareness of the interdisciplinary core of climate change, and how journalists can reflect that in their practices”, says Fackson Banda, UNESCO programme specialist responsible for the project and editor of the publication.

“At the heart of this publication is a push for the type of climate expertise needed to resonate (give genklang) with African journalists and journalism educators – two important constituents (deltagere) for our work on capacity-building for specialized journalistic literacies,” Fackson adds.

The guidebook is written by four media experts who linked climate change and journalistic practice within the context of African realities. They are Mike Shanahan and Teresa Corcoran of the International Institute for Environment and Development, and Willie Shubert and Cameron Scherer of Internews/Earth Journalism Network.

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Mike Shanahan, lead author of the guidebook, says that “climate change is not the story – it is the context in which so many other stories will unfold.”

He argues that climate change “… will affect every beat of journalism, from politics and business reporting to consumer and health stories. African journalists and their editors should not see climate change as ‘just an environment’ issue but as a new reality that will create growing demand from audiences for comprehensive, clear and locally-relevant coverage.”

Speaking about why Internews was involved in the book, James Fahn, Executive Director of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, says: “The great challenge for journalists is to learn how to turn this global issue into a local story their audiences can relate to … or rather, how to turn it into many stories. The all-encompassing nature of climate change lends itself to reporting from a multitude of angles, reflecting its impact on so many facets of society, the economy and life in general.”

Læs mere på: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/news-and-in-focus-articles/all-news/news/unesco_publishes_climate_change_guidebook_for_african_journalists/#.UtexHdLuIik