The Irish Public Broadcasting Corporation sends all its journalists on a climate training course

Amidst the reports of severe weather to be reported on news consumers this summer, it was hardly noticeable, but Ireland was also in the heat this summer. Now the severe weather on Algeciras means something different than in the United States, for example, where in some places this summer the temperature was well above fifty degrees.

However, the temperature rise above thirty degrees for several days in a row caused a hot sensation among the islanders. The temperature has never risen above 33.3 degrees, the record set in 1887.

Coverage of this sparked criticism, especially on social media. For example, the country’s public broadcaster – Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) – may systematically fail to link reports about heat to a warming climate.

Broadcaster John Williams on Monday responded to the criticism. “We have been called to order,” he wrote in the broadcaster’s blog. “Our journalists do their work with honesty and integrity, but they are also prone to error as people.” Before the pandemic, the broadcaster had one reporter who had to follow science and climate. “But since the pandemic started, this journalist has been working on just that.”

Mandatory workshop

Although he notes that scientists, and thus journalists, are usually justifiably cautious about attributing occasional weather to climate trends, Williams promises improvement. “We are putting together a team that is fully committed to overcoming the climate crisis. Let’s start with the Climate Summit in Glasgow in November.” All journalists from the broadcaster are also obligated to attend a workshop on climate change from September.

Meanwhile, a rare heat wave was followed by more normal weather, and now thunderstorms, storms and rain are back on the island as usual. But Williams refers to the scientists who last weekend in financial times The alarm sounded: “In the meantime, the increase in severe weather has exceeded expectations.”