Although journalists and the media are not the primary focus of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention), there are three key ways in which the Convention supports the role of the media and significantly assists the work of journalists: (1) the Convention assists journalists seeking information regarding stories they are investigating, (2) the Convention provides an impetus for officials to feed news to journalists, and (3) the Convention generates new topics for stories.
The Aarhus Convention can help journalists in their work in many ways. As members of the “public,” journalists are guaranteed, under Article 4 of the Convention, the right to request and receive environmental information. This includes, for example, information on the quality of air, soil, water, and human health and safety, as well as information on policies, decisions, and other administrative measures that may affect the environment or human health. It may be general information, or information on a specific aspect of environment or human health. The Convention requires authorities holding this information to provide it in a timely manner. Moreover, officials are required under Article 5 to proactively distribute information on these matters (for example, through a state-of-the-environment report), therefore increasing the information readily available to journalists.
The Convention sets new standards for officials in disseminating information. Instead of being wary guardians of information, officials now need to become the modern equivalent of town criers. Article 5 of the Convention imposes a strict duty on officials to report to the public, while Article 3.3 requires government authorities to promote environmental awareness and education of the public. As a result, officials increasingly look to cooperate with the mass media to fulfil these requirements and are actively providing more information to the media. [It is important to note here that although officials can use the media to assist in meeting their obligations, they should not rely only on the media to fulfil their obligations.]
Although there is no obligation for journalists to actually use the information provided by officials to educate the public on environmental matters, as they are independent of the State, in practice the information that journalists obtain as a result of the Convention generates many news stories. The Convention provides a new range of newsworthy events, themes, and topics that often are of interest to the media. For instance, the Convention obliges officials to provide information on the state of the environment and the actual state of human health and safety. It also requires officials to follow specific procedures for public access to information and public participation in decisionmaking, and it guarantees access through legal proceedings that ensure officials fulfil their obligations. Activities by civil society organisations and other members of the public to inform the public and encourage involvement in environmental decisionmaking also provide a fertile source of material for news stories.
For more information on the Aarhus Convention and the media, see Implementing the Aarhus Convention: a User Guide for Officials in the Eastern Europe and Caucasus Region and Implementing the Aarhus Convention: a User Guide for Civil Society in the Eastern Europe and Caucasus Region, both of which are available at http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/
PublicParticipation/PublicAwareness/eecca.html