Committee on Climate Change

Julian Rush was Science & Environment Correspondent of Channel 4 News for 16 years up until February 2011. He now produces his own TV and radio documentaries on a range of topics relating to science and the environment. He has a particular interest in earth sciences, climate change, sustainable development and engineering. He is also studying for an Open University degree in Geosciences.

While at Channel 4 News Julian won the Royal Television Society Home News Award two years in succession for his investigative reports on the causes of the Paddington and Hatfield rail crashes. In 2004, he was short-listed for an RTS Award for his exclusive report that exposed the government’s “dodgy dossier” on Iraq.

How did you become interested in reporting on science and environmental issues?
When I joined the BBC Nine o'clock News in the early 1990s, green issues were rising fast up the political agenda.  The BBC wanted to appoint it's first Environment Correspondent.  I didn't get the job, but I became de facto Environment Producer.  I produced a series of films for BBC News on sustainable development issues ahead of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and then produced the coverage of the event itself.  With Rio+20 coming up next year, I've recently been back over those films and it's surprising just what has, and what hasn't, changed: climate change, poverty and inequality, population, food and resources - they're still the big issues.  I think we were all a bit naive in Rio when we thought we'd be able to fix them as easily as the world fixed the Ozone Hole with the Montreal Protocol. That said, we've also done a great deal so I remain optimistic.

Following recent events such as climategate, has it become more difficult to keep science and environmental stories on the agenda?
I always say I'm not a science and environment journalist - I'm a journalist whose stories are about science and the environment.  The journalism comes first - no special pleading for the subject, nor  privileged protection from robust scrutiny.  But science is consensual, complex, and often incremental, which doesn't make for simple "eureka!" headlines nor does it fit the easy, combative paradigm of, say, political coverage.

'Climategate' hit the spot of the fundamental editorial urge for something new that challenges orthodoxy, even though most of the environment correspondents I know had told their news desks, after examining the cache of emails, that there was very little substance in the exaggerated claims of the tiny climate denier community.

For a while, and after the coincident failure of COP 15 at Copenhagen, there was a bit of editorial "green fatigue".  It's gone, but many of the issues are now so familiar, if unresolved, they're no longer news.  It just means we have to look for different stories, that's all.

Do you think the media have a responsibility to help restore public trust in science?
I'm not sure the public has lost trust in science.  Sure, they may be confused by the complexity of the arguments around climate change, but science in general has never had a better press. 

I'm glad we've discarded the image of scientist as high priest in a white coat.  Scientists are human, thank goodness.  The vast majority do amazing things; a few do stupid things; and very occasionally, one or two do criminal things.  That's why science is so exciting to report.

Responsible reporting means accurately reflecting the balance of opinion.  Fortunately, we've finally won the battle with editors who'd demanded a climate denier be interviewed against a climate scientist every time, in order to reflect a perceived but spurious controversy.  That misled viewers and readers into believing there was a 50-50 balance in the arguments, rather than the 95-5 consensus of reality.

You have recently moved on from Channel 4 news to work as a freelance journalist and consultant, what are you working on now?
It's been a busy couple of months!  I was commissioned by ITN Productions to produce and direct a 45 minute documentary on the Japanese tsunami and the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.  We turned round 'Nuclear Meltdown' for a Canadian distribution company in just three weeks and it's being sold to TV channels around the world.

I'm working on a number of documentary projects to take to production companies for further development.  I'm actively looking for documentary ideas and stories around Rio+20 next year and I'm always ready for that exclusive tip-off!  

The consultancy work is proving to be fascinating, whether clients want help with media issues or with understanding how policy affects their business.  I've become a trustee of the environmental legal NGO, FIELD, and I'm also providing media training through a former colleague's company, MediaFirst. 

What do you do yourself to reduce your carbon footprint?
Inevitably, not as much as I should, or I could.  We've done most of the unglamorous stuff in the house, like beefing up the insulation, to cut our energy consumption and we're now looking at ways to save water - our new, narrow, water saving bath is incredibly comfortable!  We recycle a lot and we try to repair what we can rather than buy replacements.  I'm using internet conferencing when I can and I use cloud computing a lot, so I'm looking for companies that run their server farms efficiently on green energy.  But I'm afraid we still fly abroad for holidays.