Ten environmental journalists from China en route to a Danish wind farm at sea. Photo: Helle Nordberg/IMS.

Chinese and Danish climate change and environmental journalists share similar challenges in their work, but clear differences still exist. Report from a summit between journalistic compatriots in summer-clad Copenhagen

During four hectic days of visiting various sites and environmental actors in Denmark, a group of ten Chinese climate and environmental journalists  visiting Denmark as part of IMS media programme for Chinese journalists, met Danish fellow-journalists in a meeting hosted by DR to share experiences and to discuss professional challenges and ethical dilemmas.

During a whole day of sessions, Danish and Chinese journalists took turns in presenting examples of their work and sharing experiences of how to tackle the various challenges facing investigative reporting in the field of climate change and environmental issues. Shared challenges evolved around Issues such as acquiring validated information, the selection of sources as well as choice of angle of stories.

Each session sparked discussions on a number of professional topics, ranging from highly sophisticated topics related to the global climate change agenda to questions raised over professional choices and challenges facing journalists worldwide.

According to Danish journalist Karen Hjulmand, who is employed with the daily program ‘P1 Orientering’ in the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) and who moderated the meeting, the Chinese journalists were very knowledgeable, outspoken and enthusiastically engaging in the discussions.

- I found the discussions to be extremely invigorating, inspiring and even surprising, she said in an invterview with IMS after the meeting.

The pace of change in China struck Karen Hjulmand. Having met Chinese journalists before, lack of a common language had always been a barrier. However, in the group of ten visiting Denmark this year, most Chinese journalists could either speak or understand English.

Common ground of interest

Karen Hjulmand explained that the meeting revealed common grounds of interest for Danish as well as Chinese journalists. Among the topics discussed was the wind energy industry. In Denmark as well as China, governments prepare plans for reducing CO2 emissions by changing the power supply system – converting, among others, to wind energy.

In the meeting, the Chinese journalists presented a story which uncovered how, in China, many windmills are built but never connected to the power grid - simply because the grid is lacking in many areas of China. Therefore investments in wind power in China are high risk and low in return.

- We were told that this story was a taboo in China. Interestingly, we could tell a similar story from Denmark: The Danish parliament recently approved a wind farm at sea, although it was expected to be so expensive that investments were likely to be unsustainable, Karen Hjulmand explained. She went on to say that:

- The key difference between the Chinese and the Danish story was, however, that in Denmark, journalists are able to toot the horn as much as they like about the poor judgment among decision makers without jeopardizing themselves or their media.

Another issue of common interest was the ethical question challenging journalists all over the world: whether to always pursue the sensations even when risking conveying an unbalanced picture.

- Journalists will never come to any agreement on these issues – this is a universal dilemma. But the meeting demonstrated, that the divide was not geographical but personal, so Danes and Chinese would share similar viewpoints, while others disagreed, Karen Hjulmand said.

Stark contrasts continue to exist

Asked if the meeting revealed more similarities than differences in the working conditions of Chinese and Danish climate change and environmental journalists respectively, Karen Hjulmand paused for a long moment before answering:

- In the meeting it became clear, that on one hand we are struggling with the same challenges such as sources advocating certain points of view, ethical dilemmas etc. And I think it is great that we can show our Chinese colleagues, that this is something we in Denmark struggle with as well – and always will; it’s part of the journalistic trade.

- On the other hand, she continued, we were presented with the massive problems our Chinese colleagues still face if criticising government decisions. We were also told that they might risk imprisonment or worse for publishing their stories. This is so far from the reality of journalists in Denmark – we do not put our lives at stake for doing our job.

Upon conclusion of the five day visit to Denmark, the ten Chinese journalists also met with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and  offered feedback  to the IMS management on the visit and shared new ideas for future activities engaging Chinese media.