First as news director of Radio France and now at the head of a new media project dedicated to the ecological transition within the group Les Echos – Le Parisien (2050NOW), Vincent Giret has made training journalists on climate and environmental issues his favorite field. At a time when companies (sometimes in spite of themselves) have become media, his words shed light on the responsibility of each person in writing their own story, their own information.
How did the environmental issue become a priority over the course of your career?
In the early 2000s, when I was working at Expansion, we were the first media outlet to offer a regular column to Jean-Marc Jancovici. This encounter opened my eyes. Subsequently, I began to address the ecological transition as part of my management and media management duties, particularly through a column in Le Monde on Smart Cities. The idea was to tell the story of the transformation of cities because that’s where all the major changes intersect: ecological, digital, mobility.
Personally, I also started reading more on the subject. But the real trigger was COVID, when I realized that journalism had a huge problem. Apart from war, the big topics that assail us necessarily have a scientific and economic resonance. However, science and economics are the two subjects on which the general culture of journalists is weak, if not non-existent.
COVID served as a crash test: suddenly, a single piece of information took up 80 to 90% of airtime. Within Radio France, this led me to make a critical assessment of our channels with journalists and heads of Science Health Environment departments. The result of the internal investigation highlighted many issues: choice of subjects and angles, interviews and guests who were unsuitable or questioned on issues on which they were not competent, etc. This created a great deal of cacophony on air and gave the feeling that everyone was contradicting each other, which did not help the public to find their way.
Was this observation the starting point for change?
While this critical work has made it possible to establish rules of good practice, with a charter on how to communicate, it has nevertheless revealed a systemic problem: journalists do not have the skills on the many subjects with scientific and economic resonance (pandemics but also climate, biodiversity, mobility, energy) to check the comments of guests, contradict them and correct them if necessary.
From now on, each journalist must have editorial reflexes thanks to a
training kit. Sibyle Veil, the president of Radio France at the time of
Covid, gave me carte blanche to create an internal training plan to raise awareness among the company’s 1,200 journalists and to define best practices on scientific or economic issues. Similarly, a quarterly masterclass on climate and environmental issues was set up for all Radio France employees, with the idea of making journalists want to put themselves in a learning situation.
On climate, biodiversity, resources and living issues, it is necessary to connect our editorial offices to places of knowledge. Editorial teams are expected to become more hybrid: not only journalists are needed, but also engineers, scientists, artificial intelligence specialists, etc. Because it is not only about transmitting knowledge, but also mobilizing the public.
Shouldn’t we accompany this approach with new storytelling techniques?
The first task that falls to us is to be information transmitters and to explain reality, in a simple and understandable way. The second is to be particularly attentive to the choice of subjects, angles and the vocabulary that we use. It is also about avoiding the catastrophic discourse that pushes towards climate denial and inaction. We must be able to choose and promote people who do things, innovative solutions, whether they are human, entrepreneurial or scientific.
Should we tell more positive stories?
I think that if there is no imaginary of a positive transition, we will not progress. The idea of solutions journalism with inspiring stories is rather interesting to illuminate the paths of passage. Of course, a channel must make pluralist voices heard on the subject. But in the tone, in the setting of the subjects, it is fundamental to show that there is a collective adventure to be lived around the climate and the environment. This is why the more activist and militant media also have their place because they move the lines.
What place for opinion journalism in the face of environmental issues?
I feel that we must first stay as close as possible to science, which can inform us about the state of the situation. On the other hand, science is incompetent in the face of societal decisions. This is where there is room for opinion journalism, provided that it is based on facts. The media have a responsibility on the subject. Indeed, public policies and social consensus are not the same, democracy works differently depending on the country, to speak only of the European Union. The relationship to geography, space, cars, and the energy mix are not the same – so the issues can be different. Culturally, it is very important and very interesting to show what choices our neighbours make and to provoke a contradictory debate.
Are journalists sufficiently aware of the fact that they create imagination?
It’s not just journalists. Teachers, cinema, and authors also contribute to shaping our imagination. The evolution of technology and uses has acted like tectonic plates that have caused a tsunami: it is the mass of information that surrounds us. We have all become transmitters. We like, we comment, we post photos and videos… The information landscape is today hyper-saturated, completely horizontal, totally deregulated and very often toxic.
Today, there is a huge crisis of confidence in information, particularly severe in France: less than 30% of French people trust the media and information. Renewing journalism is a vital issue. However, journalists are not aware of the seriousness of the subject. Jean-François Revel already said it at the end of the 70s: “I do not know of a profession more blind to itself than journalism”. There is a whole fundamental reflection to be carried out on the profession to rebuild trust. And on such vital issues as the climate, biodiversity, and living things.
What should we do next with these thoughts?
Fourteen million French people consider the ecological transition to be an important topic for their personal and professional lives. These people, like companies, are looking for reliable information and proven knowledge. This is why I am working on a multifaceted editorial project that will include a media outlet entirely dedicated to the ecological transition.
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