IGA-451M: CONTROVERSIES IN CLIMATE, ENERGY & THE MEDIA: Improving Public Communication

2015

Harvard Kennedy School Spring 2015, Module 3 (Jan 27-Mar 12)

Tuesday/Thursday 11:40am-1:00pm Littauer 332

Shopping class: Jan 22, 11:40am to 12:55pm, L332

Faculty: Professor Cristine Russell
Office: Brattle Street Complex,
5th floor, Room 559
Email:
Office Hours: Schedule with Professor / Course Assistant: Amanda Dominguez
Email:
Office Hours: Posted on course website
Faculty Assistant: Stacy Hannell
Office: Littauer 209
Email:

Course Description:

This course will examine media coverage of timely climate, energy and environment issues as well as the role media play in influencing public understanding, policy, and political outcomes around the world. These issues include some of the greatest, and most controversial, global challenges ahead: the disconnect between the immense threat climate change poses and political will and action; extreme weather and its impact at the human and geopolitical levels; the divisive anti-science & climate denial movement; the natural gas and oil revolution in the US and its global importance; the fracking debate; the Keystone XL pipeline;renewable energy; nuclear energy in a post-Fukushima world; andthe climate and energy clash between developed and developing countries.

Rapid changes in conventional and social media mean that virtually all professionals, by choice or necessity, need to become better communicators and commentators in the public sphere regardless of their career paths.This course is intended to help students navigate the rapidly changing media landscape, providing a better understanding of how media coverage shapes the public conversation and how this in turn shapes the media. The classwill be participatory and discussion-intensive, providing practical strategies and skills. Guest journalists and other experts will enhance our discussions.

The 2015 course, first taught in 2012, has been completely updated to reflect the latest energy and environment issues and media coverage. We will focus on mainstream news media coverage, as well as commentary in blogs and social media. We will also take a multimedia approach to study the power of imagery as well as words, including photographs (think polar bear), graphics, video and television, and political cartoons.

A final role-play exercise will analyze media coverage of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in the US and Canada. The in-class role play has proven a popular way to understand the divisive and long-running debate between proponents and opponents.

The ultimate question posed by the course is whether, in this day and age, it is possible to have an informed public debate about the key climate, energy and environment issues of our time, from their scientific and technical underpinnings to possible policy options and solutions. The answer depends in part on how and where citizens get their information among the array of choices in the media marketplace.

We will explore a number of communication roadblocks and strategies for overcoming them, including:

●  The slow process of developing scientific “truth” and knowledge-based journalism in an era of instant 24/7 news and science denialism.

●  A political world increasingly characterized by polarization, gridlock, and competing visions of the role of government. “Media spin” is a key weapon in these policy and political wars.

●  A decline of mainstream news outlets, which are accustomed to separating fact-based reporting and opinion, and the rise of alternative media outlets (cable television; talk radio; online blogging and social media) that are highly opinionated, increasingly partisan, and often lacking in editorial supervision, fact-checking, and traditional journalism norms.

●  A citizenry with limited scientific education that is bombarded by a variety of different media and a plethora of conflicting, confusing and often contradictory messages. Perception of risks and benefits is colored by a range of emotional, ideological, and political reactions that go beyond the “facts.”

●  Competition from day-to-day news, from the serious to the silly, which may easily overshadow energy and environment topics. Crime, celebrities, sports, and stunts are far easier to sell.

General Topics:

●  The changing media landscape in the US and globally.

●  The explosive growth of the Internet and social media: the Twitterverse, the blogosphere.

●  Understanding the players in science/research and policy; business; non-profit think tanks; advocacy groups; government; media; and the public.

●  How the game is played: practical strategies for dealing with the media.

●  Public opinion on climate change, energy, and environment issues.

●  Political leadership/non-leadership in local, national and international climate, energy, and environment efforts.

●  The role of controversy, uncertainty, “false balance,” and visual symbols in influencing public opinion.

Guest Speakers:

●  SEMINAR: Coral Davenport, Energy & Environment reporter, The New York Times. Informal in-class discussion plus optional afternoon public presentation for the Harvard/Boston community.

●  Other leading energy/environment journalists and experts will be invited to join class conversations, in person or by video chat. They include Andrew Revkin, New York Times DotEarth; Curtis Brainard, Scientific American; Professor Matthew Bunn, HKS; and Elana Schor, Politico. We will also bring in global voices, such as Rosalia Omungo, Kenya Broadcasting System.

Prerequisites:

This course is open to graduate students from any Harvard school or department, to affiliate schools and to qualified undergraduates with the permission of the instructor. The diversity of international backgrounds enriches the course; special arrangements for students for whom English is a second language can be made. Cross registration by students from other universities is encouraged. Check with HKS Registrar and the instructor for procedures. Auditors are welcome if space is available and should contact the instructor for permission.

Expectations:

The Kennedy School is a professional school. As such, students are expected to:

●  Read assignments before coming to class

●  Attend all classes

●  Be on time

●  Participate actively in class discussions and on the class blog

●  Submit assignments on time

●  Be respectful of each other and of the instructor

●  Do their best to prepare professional products for their assignments.

Class discussions are a large part of the learning in this class. In-class laptop use is discouraged.

Class participation:

In-Class Discussion – Participation in class discussions is expected. Throughout the class, students will be asked to discuss readings and debate media strategies and the positions of various media actors. The class will culminate in a fun role-play exercise involving all students that brings the media and communication lessons to life.

Class Blog – Our class blog will encourage out-of-class dialogue and further analysis of class readings, current events, and other relevant information/media, etc. Since this is a module, the blog provides an added opportunity for students to get to know one another. Each student will be given access to the blog and instructions on how to use it. The blog will count toward class participation. Class members are expected to be regular blog participants, posting short entries and comments on other posts. The instructor, teaching assistant, and students will pose questions to the group. Requirements and suggestions for blog posts and comments will be provided on the Course Page. Blog posts might include one thing you learned in the week’s readings or a short critique of one reading.

Blog URL: http://meeharvard.wordpress.com/wp-admin/

We will offer basic tutorials on how to blog and tweet to bring all members of the class up to speed on social media.

Students are expected to follow the daily news, including a newspaper or mainstream media publication in the US or abroad. A list of relevant aggregators and blogs will also be provided on the class blog (e.g. “The Daily Climate,” “Dot Earth”).

Assignments:

●  Assignment one: Extreme weather events and climate change. Write a short critical review of the media coverage of an extreme weather event of your choosing (such as extreme heat, droughts, wildfires, flooding, hurricanes/typhoons, etc.), focusing on the language used and people quoted. Explain how journalists communicated to the public about the role of climate change in this extreme weather event: Where did they fall short in their coverage? What did they do well? What could they have done better? Was the reporting accurate? What sources did they use? Do you trust those sources? Did they overplay the role of climate change or understate it? Cite at least two news articles in your piece.

o  750-1,000 words

o  Due on Wed. 2/11 at 5pm

●  Assignment two: Fracking, nuclear or renewable energy. Write a short news article, op-ed, or blog post on the benefits and/or risks of fracking, nuclear power, or a renewable energy source of your choice. Localize the technology in a particular place or region in which there is debate or controversy; this can be a region where an installation currently exists, or a region where new operations have been proposed. You must use (and cite) three news or technical articles as background for your piece. If you want to take a point of view, argue your case in an op-ed or blog format. The best papers present both technical and human-interest background and discuss technical information in a clear and accurate manner.

o  750 words.

o  Due on Fri. 2/27 at 5pm

●  Assignment three. Keystone XL role-play exercise. This assignment includes an in-class exercise (March 10) and an analytical paper (due March 13). In the class exercise, each student will play the role of a character in the KXL debate and work in small assigned teams: media (journalist; newspaper editor; bloggers/commentators); researchers/experts; company/trade association officials; environmental activists; government policy makers/politicians, etc. A guest journalist will “live” blog the presentations.

Following the exercise, students must submit a paper analyzing the broader role played by the media in its coverage of KXL and your “character,” lessons learned in the role-play, and the influence of the various players in the game. In this paper, you should go beyond a summary of the in-class events; apply lessons learned from the in-class exercise to the broader media landscape and policy debate.

o  1,000-1,500 words

o  Due on Fri. 3/13 at 5pm

Extensions require advance permission by instructor. Otherwise, late assignments will be penalized one grade level per 24-hours late.

***Assignments are intended to provide an opportunity for students to hone their analytical, research, and writing skills. Please talk to Prof. Russell or Amanda if you would like to adapt assignments to make them more meaningful for your particular academic/professional interests.

Grading:

Class participation: In class discussion / 10%
Class participation: Class blog posts/comments / 15%
Assignment one: Extreme weather paper / 20%
Assignment two: Fracking, nuclear, or renewable energy article/op-ed/blog / 20%
Assignment three: Keystone XL in-class exercise & analytical paper / 35%

Citation Practices:

Students must be familiar with and must observe Kennedy School and Harvard University rules regarding the citation of sources. See HKS student handbook for details.

Instructor:

Cristine Russell, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, is an award-winning freelance journalist who has written about science, environment and health for more than three decades. She is a Senior Fellow in the Environment and Natural Resources Program at the HKS Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a former HKS Shorenstein Center fellow. Russell is a contributing editor at Columbia Journalism Review, contributor to Atlantic.com, and a former national science reporter for The Washington Post.

She is the immediate past-president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and a former president of the National Association of Science Writers. She has worked with the World Federation of Science Journalists, organizing sessions for biennial conferences in Korea, Finland, Qatar, and the UK. Russell served on the boards of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; an honorary member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society; and a Mills College graduate with a degree in biology.

Outline of classes and readings below.

Outline of Classes and Discussion Questions - 2015
Class / Date / Topic/Questions / Assignment
1/22 / Shopping 11:40-12:55: Introduction and Overview of Course and Requirements
SECTION I:
Overview of the Changing Global Media Landscape / ●  How is the changing face of the media—the decline in mainstream news and rapid rise of online and social media outlets—influencing public understanding of complex policy issues?
●  How does media coverage of environment, energy and climate topics compare to other domestic & foreign policy issues?
●  How does the growth in mobile technology affect news consumption?
●  How big is the media generation gap between millennials and their elders?
●  How well do journalists cover complex stories on a 24/7 news cycle?
●  Why do stories favor politics over policy and controversy over consensus?
●  How do decision makers and advocacy groups use the media to ‘spin’ the public conversation about energy and environment issues?
1 / 1/27 / How Rapid Changes in Global Media Impact Controversial Energy/Environment Issues
SECTION II:
Global Trends in Media & Public Opinion on Climate Change / ●  How has the media covered climate change science and policy over time?
●  Why has the scientific and policy case for action to reduce the global threat of climate change become increasingly politicized in recent years?
●  What fuels climate change denialism in countries like the US and Australia?
●  Why do energy and environment issues collide in the public discourse?
●  How do blogs and special interests influence the public debate?
●  What are the trends in public opinion on climate change science and action in the US and internationally?
2 / 1/29 / Overview of Climate Change Coverage, the Politics of Denial and the Public Opinion Divide
3 / 2/03 / Covering Catastrophe: Extreme Weather Brings Urgency to Climate Change
4 / 2/05 / The Big Disconnect: Scientific Consensus & Political Paralysis
SECTION III:
Energy, New Technology and Risk Reporting / ●  How have new sources of natural gas and oil changed the global energy, economic and geopolitical discussion?
●  What has been the role of the media?
●  Winners and losers: The see-saw coverage of energy
●  Techno-optimism and pessimism: How does faith in new technologies affect coverage of energy?