Smoke Signals: The impact of the media’s take on wildfires
Partner: Re:Climate
Group Members: Cara Garneau, Phillipe Doucet, Lyndsay St-Côme, Beatrice Villadegado
Project Description
A documentary made in partnership with Re.Climate exploring themes in the media’s portrayal of wildfires.
Recently, Re.Climate released their media analysis report, “Climate Change and Wildfires in Canada’s National Media.” This report looked at media stories about wildfires from national news sources between June 1 and August 31, 2023. The documentary explores topics presented in the report through the lens of the 2023 fires in Ontario and Quebec. By interviewing subject-matter experts, community leaders, and Carleton students, the documentary paints a picture of how wildfires are being portrayed in media and how that affects understanding and sentiments toward wildfires and climate change. The discussions in the documentary explore themes such as: the link between wildfires and climate change, what voices are covered, and narrative framing.
The documentary will mainly be aimed at communicators who want to learn how to better cover wildfires, and the climate crisis more broadly. However, we think the conclusions drawn can be useful for everyone, since we all come out further ahead when we’re better at communicating with one another. This is especially true for a topic as abstract and broad as climate change, which is easier to understand when we center how it impacts people daily.