BAOBAB – A Multidisciplinary Pathway to Counter Climate Disinformation

CSO: QCODE SOCIAL CLUB
Area: Awareness
Location: Lombardy Region and Italy

Type of project

A hybrid training program in the media sector for journalists on countering climate disinformation.

The project aims to develop, over a 9-month period, a pilot hybrid training program (combining in-person and remote learning) targeted at professional journalists working for local, regional, or national generalist media outlets. The training will be conducted by journalists under 35 already active in media outlets focusing on climate and environmental with contributions from young scientists and researchers who will consistently support the educational activities.

Target (Disengaged)

Indirectly (correct communication to enhance and enlarge sensible audience/better informed public)

Science-based

Scientific evidence is well remarked to be a prerequisite for providing accurate and effective information to a general audience

Gender

Standard

Planned activities

Intensive residential training: A “climate residency” in an area affected by the environmental crisis, with direct testimonies from local actors and sessions with experts and activists.
Open scientific web talks: A series of online meetings open to the public, led by young scientists, to address key issues of the climate crisis with a popular approach.
Modules on gender and climate crisis: Integration of the issues of equity and climate justice in training content, with attention to gender dynamics.
Workshops with journalists and researchers: Practical courses in which participants work on the production of articles, investigations and content to be published on a dedicated platform.
Production and dissemination of content: Production and publication of journalistic materials resulting from the training course, to experiment with new narrative models and reach a wider audience.

Action model

Working on a specific multiplier it is expected to have a wider and long-term impact (i.e. future communication of journalists), increasing a science-based culture aimed to inform correctly a wider audience (including de facto citizens not well aware of climate topics).

The project, on this regard, is interesting since it focus on the “way” science may allow for a better explanation of the reality, hence promoting a more informed (or better informed) audience.