Record heat, fires, drought: the heat wave that has hit Western Europe in recent days is making headlines in this region of the globe and even attracting the attention of the media on this side of the Atlantic. But faced with coverage navigating between trivialization, sensationalism and the anecdotal, experts here are calling for greater rigor from the media when the time comes to talk about extreme phenomena related to climate change.
“Warmer than the Sahara” (” Hotter than the Sahara “), headlined the tabloid on Monday The Sunto accompany a photo of a crowded beach. “Stay safe, stay cool” (“ Keep cool, stay safe “), proclaimed the next day the daily Peterborough Telegraphwith the illustration of a child enjoying an ice cream.
Meanwhile, the British daily I warned his readers that “the Earth sends a warning” (” Earth sends a warning “), with in the background a heat map of the United Kingdom breaking all temperature records. And on the side of France, Release featured a photo of firefighters battling huge flames, with the caption “Looking Like A Disaster Movie.”
“It’s either the sensationalist clichés that sell, or the minimization of the problem that borders on denial of climate change,” notes Patrick White, professor at UQAM’s School of Media, upon seeing these different front pages. Europeans. Admittedly, the first pages are generally designed to catch the eye — the titles and images therefore do not always reflect the quality of the journalistic coverage given to the subject —, “but that’s what people remember, it makes an impression and guides their opinion”, underlines the professor.
This observation is echoed on social networks and in public speeches. While some cry out for exaggeration and the creation of a climate of fear by the media, others deplore the overly positive illustration of the heat wave. They especially criticize the use of happy images, such as children playing in water games or eating ice cream, people lounging by the pool or people sunbathing on the beach.
Environmental activists from the Extinction Rebellion group even went so far as to smash windows at the London headquarters of publisher News UK — which belongs to Rupert Murdoch — on Tuesday to show their outrage at media coverage of the phenomenon. The pressure group blames the tabloid The Sun, for example, for illustrating the subject with women in bikinis and crowded beaches. He also criticizes the Daily Express, which headlined on Monday “It’s not the end of the world! Stay cool and carry on…” (“ It’s not the end of the world! Just stay cool and carry on… “).
“The media plays a crucial role. They can be both agents of information and disinformation through the words, images and speakers they choose to talk about heat waves — and other extreme weather events. […] They must be aware of this and think about their choice of coverage accordingly,” underlines meteorologist Gilles Brien, recalling that the Canadian media are no exception to this assertion.
What to show, what to say
On this side of the Atlantic, when will the next heat wave occur, how not to fall into trivialization or sensationalism? All the stakeholders consulted agree: we drop the puns and clichés that are going on a loop at the moment to rather show and, above all, tell the real impacts of the heat wave.
“Scientific jargon doesn’t speak to people. They need to understand, with real and concrete examples, what can happen to them, to their family, to their house, to their dog, etc., argues Gilles Brien. This is how they will take the measure of the gravity of the situation. […] There is a climate emergency. Heat waves cause 5 to 6 million deaths every year worldwide. Not to mention the other natural disasters that occur. »
“It’s important to get the point of view of vulnerable or marginalized people, who are the most affected,” adds Amélie Daoust-Boisvert, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at Concordia University. “We must say and show how the homeless try to escape the heat, how air conditioning remains an issue in CHSLDs and that the heat weakens the elderly,” she gives as an example.
In the opinion of Patrick White, it is also necessary to better explain the environmental repercussions of heat waves. It’s not just “ultra-localized forest fires”, it’s also the drought that is hitting agricultural production and creating supply difficulties for several products that we consume on a daily basis, he notes.
Experts also insist on the need to get out of the “anecdotal” and to put extreme weather events into context. “Covering a heat wave is not just displaying temperatures and indicating broken records: it is making links with climate change, showing that repeated and intensifying heat waves are a consequence”, explains meteorologist Gilles Brien.
Professor Daoust-Boisvert also emphasizes the need to point out the links between these events and the political actions taken — or not — to deal with climate change. “It is the role of journalists to hound politicians, to follow up on promised projects that have not been implemented. »
And if to change mentalities, it takes a dose of alarmism, “let’s go”, adds Gilles Brien for his part. “I think we got there. We have done anti-smoking campaigns with horrible images on cigarette packs to get people to stop smoking. If it takes images like that for us to become aware of the climate emergency and to act collectively, let’s go. As long as we don’t give the impression that we can’t do anything more to save the planet. »