News Sites Should Encourage ‘Green Living’

New media journalist Steve Outing is issuing a call to arms to newspapers to encourage eco-friendly behaviour among their readers.

Writing in his latest Stop the Presses column, Outing asserts that the media needs to return to a form of advocacy journalism in its reporting of climate change issues and this means assuming a pro-active role in helping people to adopt more environmentally friendly lifestyles.

The self-styled “online-media pioneer” suggests that newspapers can lead the way by hosting online communities for people with shared environmental interests, such as homeowners who use solar energy or individuals who cycle to work.

Outing asks: “How about if newspapers abandon their old way of doing things when it comes to the issue of global warming and turn their influence to good?

“It just might be that through this issue alone, newspapers revive themselves to some extent. Editors are shirking their responsibility to improve our world, in my view, so let’s change that.”

In addition, Outing recommends that journalists should encourage readers to post their energy-saving tips on the website where fellow users can rate them according to the most useful.

Other initiatives outlined by the US-based columnist in the latest edition of Editor & Publisher include the online promotion of green campaigns by featuring details on homepages and the staging of competitions to find the community’s best energy saver.

The full article (time-sensitive for non-subscribers) is available online.