Media Is Hope held a press conference to show solidarity and support to – “The 1.5°C Promise : Move Now to Stop the Temperature Rise Campaign
Medis is Hope held a press conference to express solidarity and support for the campaign that The United Nations Information Center (UNIC) launched : “1.5°C Commitment – Move Now to Stop the Rise of Temperatures”, which was launched to call for an action on climate change through the power of the media.
Beyond boundaries, Japanese media and citizens gathered together to solve climate change !
The United Nations Information Centre, Tokyo (UNIC Tokyo) and over 140 voluntary Japanese media companies in the SDG Media Compact launched the campaign “Promise of 1.5℃. Act Now to Stop Global Warming” in June 2022 to leverage the power of the media to call for climate action. This is the world’s first country-level joint campaign by media companies that are members of the SDG Media Compact and the United Nation. We, as Media is Hope, held a press conference with speakers from UNIC Tokyo and media companies to show our solidarity and support.
This press conference was realized by an offer from Media is Hope, the organization consists of citizens / audience who aim to solve climate change. The director of UNIC Tokyo and 12 representatives from television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and web media participated in the conference as speakers, as well as more than 70 media representatives participated as attendees online and offline.
While media faces some challenges to build and preserve trusting relationships with the public, “Engaged Journalism” is beginning to be established in Japan. By positioning citizens not only as “audience” but also as “partners”, Media is Hope looks for a new direction of journalism. This movement, citizens partnering with media, is epoch-making for Japanese media, and it may be the first such movement in the world.
Media is Hope provides a variety of support to make accurate understanding about climate change widely available to the public, encourage behavioral change and climate action, and strengthen climate journalism from citizens’ perspectives. Our vision is to establish a fair media and sustainable society where media and audience have mutual responsibility. In order to fight for climate change, we are working as a bridge to establish relationships between the media, citizens and companies and stakeholders.
Through this press conference, not only did we signal our solidarity and support, but also reaffirmed our promise to become a starting point and continue as a platform where media, citizens and companies / stakeholders can come together to solve climate change.
【Objective to Show Solidarity and Support】
Climate journalism is not only an issue for media. We believe it is important for citizens to cooperate and support media that transmits the correct information about climate change and how we can solve it. This is because every citizen is also a consumer of media, and is therefore responsible for choosing media. Media is Hope decided to express our sincere gratitude and respect to all media representatives that came across media and other boundaries. We, as citizens, would like to express our support for media innovation in Japan.
ー Press Conference Information ー
【Date】October 12th, 2022
【Location】Japan National Press Club in Chiyoda, Tokyo (online and offline)
【Organizer】General Incorporated Association Media is Hope
【Support】United Nations Information Centre, Tokyo
ー Speakers ー
Campaign Proponent
- ● Kaoru Nemoto, Director of United Nations Information Center (UNIC)
Moderator
- ● Gendatsu Kyoko, executive producer of NHK Enterprise
- ● Yutaka Yamaguchi, announcer of TV Asahi Corporation
Media professionals
- ● Tatsuhiko Seki, Editor-in-chief and producer of Kodansha FRaU
- ● Kazutaka Shinno, Producer of TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) radio “ashitanocollege”
- ● Ryohei Nakanishi, Planning and Development Department, News Production Bureau, Tokyo Branch Office, Aichi Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd.
- ● Takashi Matsuki, The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Editorial Board Member, Second Industry Department
- ● Kasane Nakamura, Producer and Editor, HuffPost Japan
- ● Yoshiko Kobata, General Manager, CSR & SDGs Promotion Office and Commentator Office, News Bureau, Fuji Television Network, Inc.
- ● Keiichi Nakane, Keiichi Nakane, Reporter, Science Department, The Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Head Office
- ● Misako Yamaji, Announcer, Broadcasting Department, Radio Fukushima Co., Ltd.
- ● Akira Masaki, Weather Forecaster and Weather Caster
Organizers of this press conference (as viewers and readers)
- ● Yuka Natori and Yoshizo Nishida, CO-LEAD / DIRECTOR, General Incorporated Association Media is Hope
【About “Promise of 1.5 ºC” Campaign】
In June 2022, the United Nations and over 100 SDG Media Compact members have launched the Japan-based joint campaign to fight climate change with an aim to leverage the power of the media to call for climate actions. This is the world’s first country-level joint campaign by media companies that are members of the SDG Media Compactand the United Nations. The number of the media participating in this campaign is 146 as of 17 October.
The objective of this campaign is, through the information dissemination and public engagement by media, to promote the understanding of why it is necessary to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5℃ above the pre-industrial level, to propose concrete actions to stop climate change, and to encourage individuals and organizations to change their behavior.
The campaign title “Promise of 1.5℃” symbolizes the determination that all individuals and organizations support and act to keep the promises the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) made at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) last November. The slogan, “Act Now to Stop Global Warming”, is a message to urge concrete actions to keep the 1.5℃ global alive.
*\ UNIC Tokyo’s full press release about @“Promise of 1.5 ºC” campaign