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Poo-pooing “green” journalism in China
Now, more than ever, it’s hip to be “green,” from fashion (see: Project RED) to food (see: the China Ministry of Agriculture’s CGFDC). Now journalism, too, is riding the green bandwagon.
Slate magazine’s Jack Shafer recently published a provocative piece examining the pitfalls of journalism that calls for saving the environment by “greenifying” our every move, like installing an aerating shower head in your bathroom or buying soy-based candles.
“Green Is the New Yellow: On the excesses of ‘green’ journalism“
By Jack Shafer
July 6, 2007
Shafer even bashes his own boss, Slate, accusing it of suffering “green-brain disease” and pointing to the online magazine’s “Green Challenge” series, hosted in collaboration with TreeHugger.org, “an example of creepy gentle green journalism.”
What’s his beef? He argues that many publications have lost their sense of inquiry and skepticism, and instead, have served as soapboxes for green propaganda.
Often as sensationalistic as its yellow predecessor, green journalism tends to appeal to our emotions, exploit our fears, and pander to our vanity. It places a political agenda in front of the quest for journalistic truth and in its most demagogic forms tolerates no criticism, branding all who question it as enemies of the people.
This article got me thinking. Here I am, telling you that I’m interested in “green” issues, spouting opinions about “responsibility,” and trying to add my two cents to the issues plaguing the world’s biggest polluter…could I, too, be a victim–or perpetrator–of “greenwashing“?
I hope not. Feel free to question my authority (I don’t have any), play devil’s advocate, and alert me to sides of a story that I may have overlooked.
Read this piece, and browse my blog with a a healthy dose of second-guessing. Because getting lost in the hype is almost as worse as driving an SUV.
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Erica
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