COP 27 – What role did the media play?


Media from different parts of the world are covering it through different mass media outlets. The main European outlet would be Reuters. The main MENA outlet would be Al-Jazeera. Finally the US has a few outlet reporting on it such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, Fox, NPR, as well as some governmental departments such as the USDA and the State Department. These outlets broadcast news shows, as well as write articles online, as well as print news papers throughout the world.

 

Having the COP in a military dictatorship/police state with heavy censorship has certainly made an impact of journalists reporting from the conference. Journalists need to be careful what they write about and who they criticize or they could end up in jail or worse. Self censorship is definitely a big key when reporting in countries like this one. It is not worth it to step out of line and try to make a point while at the event.

 

The people who were heard and made a big impact was the younger generation. They made it clear that they will not spend money at companies who will continue to hurt the climate. They claimed if the companies can not help their country to 1.5, then the company will not receive their money. The businesses attending the COP also stepped up by working on trying to change industries with climate ambition and adaption, and low-carbon technology. This is to show that business are working towards getting to that 1.5C mark. People who are not being heard are indigenous people attending the COP. The indigenous people are allowed to be on panels discussing different things but are not being included within the negotiations about different solutions to different issues. They just want their voices to be heard not just be there.

 

The Sisi regime can not ignore the likelihood of activist and political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah most likely dying during COP27. The regime needs to do everything in their power to keep him alive so they do not soil relations with Britain and other western countries. If he does die, Britain could be less likely to cooperate with Egypt and could make things complicated and maybe even hostile at the COP.

 

The role of social media in and around the COP allows people attending the conference to get news out quickly so people can follow along and see what is happening inside the conference as well as get a sense for what the feeling is around the convention.


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