The South African Civil Society Information Service

Sue Blaine: Climate Change Has Arrived at a Time When Fundamental Global Changes are Taking Place

23 Nov 2011

Sue Blaine, Environment and Development Editor at the Business Day, South Africa's premier business newspaper, argued that climate change as an issue has arrived at a time when fundamental global changes are taking place. The Western way of looking at things has been the dominant one for a long time, but that's changing, she argued, and climate change fits into this evolving discourse.

Similar to Brendan Boyle, editor of the Daily Dispatch, who believed that the media should not take positions on issues, Blaine also emphasized the point that the media should not punt an agenda in its reporting.

However, she did admit to one particular bias. Blaine does not believe that climate denialists should get a platform in news stories.

Blaine made these remarks at a roundtable discussion, which sought to ascertain how the South African media is reporting on climate change in the run up to COP17. The roundtable was co-hosted by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South Africa Office and the South African Civil Society Information Service. It took place on November 11, 2011.

Keynote speakers at the event included: Brendan Boyle (Editor, Daily Dispatch), Sue Blaine (Environment and Development Editor, Business Day), Prof. Herman Wasserman, (Deputy Head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University), Bobby Peek (Director, Groundwork) and Saliem Fakier (Head of the Living Planet Unit at the World Wildlife Fund and SACSIS columnist).

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You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/465.19.