Suggesting stories on tackling climate change should positive and solutions-based has won an Australian University an international communications award.
The Charles Darwin University (CDU) paper, Building bonds and reader engagement through positive environmental journalism in Australia, received the Top Paper Award at the International Environmental Communication Association’s biennial Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE 2025).
In the paper researchers suggested “Positive Environmental Journalism” (PEJ) would be more effective, than doom-laden environmental reporting, in effecting change.
CDU Lecturer in Linguistics Dr Awni Etaywe said PEJ was a reporting style that inspired action by framing environmental challenges through care, shared values, and possibility.
Dr Etaywe said the study showed that when environmental stories emphasised possibility over catastrophe, it could strengthen public engagement with climate and biodiversity issues, encouraging readers to see themselves as part of the solution.
“If people are constantly told the situation is hopeless, they disengage,” Dr Etaywe said.
“When we focus on solutions, shared values, and tangible actions, we open the door to lasting behavioural change.”
He said the findings demonstrated the need for a deliberate narrative shift in how the media approached climate and environmental reporting.
“PEJ fosters hope, moral obligation and pro-environmental action.
“It’s about building solidarity, not fear, in the face of our environmental crisis.”
