Search icon

News

27th Jul 2021

RTE News Managing Director apologises for not linking recent weather events to climate change

Clara Kelly

catholic church sketch

“Reported in good faith. But truth matters. So when we get it wrong, we should say so. Lesson learned. Work to do.”

RTÉ News and Current Affairs Managing Director Jon Williams has apologised for not linking recent weather events to climate change.

Williams took to Twitter on Monday evening to apologise for the national broadcaster not linking recent extreme weather events, such as the flooding in mainland Europe and Ireland’s recent heatwave, with climate change.

Sharing an article which he penned about RTÉ’s future plans for covering climate change entitled, ‘How RTÉ News is covering climate change’, he said the broadcaster had “work to do”.

“We were wrong not to make clear connection between recent extreme weather events and climate change,” he said.

“Sin of omission and reported in good faith. But truth matters. So when we get it wrong, we should say so. Lesson learned. Work to do.”

Within the article, Williams vowed that RTÉ will be redoubling its efforts to cover climate change issues, adding that due to Covid-19, their Science and Environmental correspondent had been exclusively assigned to the pandemic over the last number of months.

“For the past 16 months, RTÉ News has been focused on covering a once-in-a-century global pandemic,” he penned.

“Like everyone else, we’ve had to make choices – compromises about not covering other things we would rather not make.

“Pre-pandemic, RTÉ’s financial challenges meant one correspondent covered both science and environment.

“Since March 2020, our science correspondent has been exclusively assigned to covering the Covid crisis. However, as Ireland emerges from the pandemic, we will double down on our coverage of climate issues.”

Williams added that every journalist at the broadcaster would also be taking part in a climate coverage workshop from September.

“From September, every journalist in RTÉ News will take part in a workshop looking a climate science, and the reporting of it,” he continued.

“And we will create a team, working across RTÉ News & Current Affairs, dedicated to reporting the climate crisis, beginning with extensive coverage of COP26, the United Nations Climate Change conference in Glasgow in November.”

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc