For media

The media industry has a strong impact on public knowledge and awareness. It can help to create a better future for all of humanity on a viable planet, or it can do the opposite. It has a double role, since it not only creates content, but hosts advertisements, which also have an impact.

Key questions and avenues to explore:

• Do you provide information to the public regarding climate and environmental issues? Do you give a platform to experts, allowing them to popularise these issues? How often? Are both the platform and the frequency at which you give it commensurate with the scope of these issues?
• Are the people around you educated on these issues and trained to speak on the topic and integrate this aspect in their daily information or entertainment work?
• Are you keeping the public apprised of the actions they could take to effect change? Are you propagating the idea of responsible consumption, according to which every penny we spend can either fund a sustainable planet for all or fund negative impacts on the climate, the environment and all human beings?
• Is the central purpose of your media product/platform compatible with global environmental stakes? Does it aim to promote overconsumption and temporary trends? If not, how much of its content still embraces that goal and how can you transform it into accurate and reliable information?
• Do you follow the “name and fame” principle in spotlighting actors of change, thereby helping your audience to redirect their necessary purchases towards these actors?
• Are the advertising spots you accept coherent with sustainable goals? If not, should you keep them? What conditions can you impose (include an announcement of the environmental impact of the promoted products, etc.)?
• Many media platforms experience a dependency vis-à-vis their advertisers: how can you develop a new business model that rebalances that relationship? Could you turn to advertisers who have implemented a strong response to climate and environmental issues? How to make your platform attractive to this brand of advertisers?
• How to use pre-existing elements to transform awareness and action (for example, using successful cooking shows that are currently airing to educate the audience about seasonal produce, the importance of buying locally, cooking with leftovers, etc. NB: this idea was born of a collective intelligence session organised by “Soyons le changement maintenant!”)?