CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

MEDIA PANEL RECOMMENDS FOCUS ON POSITIVE NEWS

BY DYLAN BRUCE

Readers and viewers have grown weary of doomand-gloom wildfire stories and crave news about how they can help change policy, according to members of the communications and media panel at Fire & Climate 2022 in Pasadena. Reporters, podcasters and public-information officers who comprised the five-person panel said their audiences want a more complete picture of the wildfire problems so they can take action. “People want to know how they can help on an individual level and on a community level, so it’s about providing the tools and resources for that,” said Amanda Monthei, creator and host of the Life with Fire podcast. Other panelists were Nathan Rott from NPR, Elizabeth Weil from New York Magazine, filmmaker Trip Jennings, Zeke Lunder, host of The Lookout, a wildfire education channel, and Kristin Alison, a fire management officer and public information officer for the U.S. Forest Service – Type One Incident Management Team in California. Panellists opened with a discussion about their different timeframes and deadlines and noted that deadlines affect the depth of coverage. For example, Rott, who has covered many wildfires, said he has tight deadlines. “I’m one of those people that has to parachute into places,” he said. “And I know that there’s a lot of consternation over parachute journalism for very good reason. I basically have to show up and do a really quick-turn piece.” In stark comparison, Weil said she can have months to put together a piece for New York Magazine. The longer timeframe allows her to build characters and narratives and develop relationships with members of the wildland fire community. “I’m a generalist,” Weil said. “I covered climate for a few years, but I’m really an outsider, so building relationships, getting to know people, having people themselves be really emotionally honest and willing to share complicated stories is what makes my job possible.” Speaking about the yearning for positive news stories, Monthei said she tries to highlight wildland fire professionals who are doing meaningful work to make a difference. Podcast listeners, Monthei said, want to know how they can do the same. Jennings, the filmmaker, echoed Monthei’s sentiments, and explained that his team puts a lot of thought into titles and thumbnails when posting content to YouTube, and have found that the traditional narrative of a battle against wildfire isn’t effective. “The military framing around it does not work for us,” Jennings said. “Climate does. Solutions-oriented stuff does.” The ever-changing demands of reporting on wildfire demands innovation to overcome old and new obstacles, the panelists said, and they had differing accounts of how they have adapted. Rott highlighted the increasing importance of social media in reporting. Speaking from Ukraine, he explained how social media is a vital source of information from officials and the public, but that it isn’t without its drawbacks.

“People want to know how they can help on an individual level and on a community level, so it’s about providing the tools and resources for that,”