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Fourth Estate:
Strengthening Environmental Reporting in South Asia
This choice is quite relevant as most of the environmental reporting is regarding these issues only. However, information on topics such as biodiversity, endangered species of plants and animals, wildlife etc is also important and could have been included. The book tries to explain scientific terms measurement and units and international agreements in a simple and comprehensible way. Special attention is given to information regarding the situation in South-Asian countries. In spite of the tightly-packed information, the book is not heavy as it is peppered with suggested readings, story ideas, and website addresses in coloured boxes. Interesting facts, news, pictures, ideograms, tables and graphs dot almost all the pages. At times, though, too much of such hypertext looks like a cutting pasting job as many of the pictures are there for adornment and do not add to clarify the concept. Today, unlimited information is easily accessible on the Net. Therefore having any such effort in print needs to be highly organised, to-the-point and free of mistakes specially if it is meant for reporters who are hard pressed for time. The book could have done well with an exhaustive index so that technical terms could be directly referred to without the layperson having to wade through all the pages. The table of contents only tabulates the broader terms. With the working group consisting of five technical experts and 15 media and NGO persons, one expects the book to be free of mistakes but grammatical mistakes and unnecessary use of capital letters mar the seriousness and professionalism of the project. However, the objective to address and demystify scientific and technical jargon of the environment, as claimed in the foreword, is achieved to a fair extent.
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THE other day at a
specialised science seminar, one of the scientists made a remark
ridiculing journalists/reporters about misreporting the technicality
involved in his scientific presentation. It is quite obvious that
reporters cannot be expert in each and every field that they report.
Nonetheless, a minimum level of understanding is expected of them
despite the pressure of deadlines and stressful conditions. This
handbook is an effort to bring to their task a certain degree of
professionalism in the reporting of environmental issues. Out of the
vast gamut of the discipline only aspects of air, water and land
pollution has been covered in this book.