For my Understanding Media class I reviewed the American Forum at American University on climate change:
America’s youth plays a large role in helping the United States’ efforts to stop climate change. As a college student in the nation’s capital, watching the American Forum on climate change gave me a sense of obligation to the environment to do whatever I can. The forum discussed several issues including the responsibility of America’s youth to aid in the effort to raise awareness of climate change in the United States. In addition, the panel discussed the media and major corporations involvement in global warming.
The event had a well-rounded panel consisting of two American University School of Communications professors, one Washington Post columnist and a writer for Mother Jones magazine. Matthew Nisbet, a communications professor at American University started the panel off by discussing that while America finds climate change to be a large issue, America does not feel it is as big as an issue as say the economy or healthcare. Nisbet reiterated that if climate change is portrayed as a personal issue or a health issue, Americans are more likely to pay more attention to the problem. I find this point to be a particularly important part of the discussion because climate change is not getting enough constructive attention. It was interesting to hear Nisbet point out ways to show it in another light. Kate Sheppard, an environmental reporter for Mother Jones magazine, spoke about how proponents for climate change need the support of republicans. This is a very important part of the panel because climate change is thought to be a very liberal issue. Emma, an American University student, asked whether is it the responsibility of the American media to educated society about global warming. The panel responded by saying that journalists get quite a bit of heat when they write about global warming. Media’s role in climate control is something I believe to be a very sticky situation because it is hard for a writer or network not to speak of the issue without having undertones of opinion.
The forum consisted of a very liberal panel that discussed fundamental issues in climate change. A very interesting element was that both the panel tended to answer questions that were very appealing and relevant to America’s youth. I believe the discussion was geared in a youth direction to motivate the students. For example, Jane Hall, an American University professor and leader of the discussion, brought to the panel a question from Facebook. This was interesting because it pointed out that America’s youth tends to follow whatever issue is trendy and as a result should the media make sure that youth get involved in more substantive efforts. I found it particularly interesting that Juliet Eilperin, writer for the Washington Post, did not think it was the media’s responsibility. I believe she did this to motivate the audience to be pro-active.
Overall, I agreed with the panel, however I feel that it is the Media’s responsibility to motivate America’s youth to get involved in more substantial climate control efforts. The panel was very well rounded in terms of knowledge on the issue. I wish the panel had lasted longer because I would have liked to know more about the media’s involvement in global warming. Since I very liberal I did saw eye-to-eye with the panel on most issues.
The event was very compelling and motivated me to be more active in my community in order to help fight climate change. I feel as though the panel worked very smoothly together but I wish there had been more participation from the audience, after all the youth of America is who has power to change. If the event were to be repeated, I think that students should have been required to write down questions first because I feel that a lot of the audience was hesitant to approach the panel. After viewing this event I want to attend the next American Forum because listening to the event did not give me the full experience.
