The OneOcean team has been working on a fortnightly media analysis – the OneOcean Response Room briefing – that looks at the intersections between COVID-19 and environment content, the environment and ocean content, and ocean and COVID-19 content on both legacy and social media.
During the COVID-19 situation, it is important to understand the kind of conversations that are taking place, what is resonating with people and why, to ensure that our communication is as impactful as possible and – at the very least – does no harm in this sensitive time.
The briefing provides recommendations and example materials which reflect the findings from our analysis. Find to follow a summary of the top-line findings of this week’s briefing, covering 6th-19th July, 2020.
The full OneOcean Response Room weekly briefing and supporting analysis is available to Flotilla members. If your organisation is interested in receiving this briefing, is not a member and interested in joining, please email travis@oceanprotect.org
Summary of findings
Following a four-week dip, the data gathered in the past fortnight indicates a resurgence of the volume of legacy media coverage at the COVID-19, ocean and environment intersection. Although stories around environmental protection rollbacks, disappointing government policies, plastic pollution and the climate crisis continue, there has been a reassuring return in positive content this week.
Coverage of three new reports placed nature firmly at the heart of post-COVID-19 economic recovery, with launches from Campaign for Nature, World Economic Forum, and the Ocean High Level Panel. This sense of optimism was replicated in energy by coverage of empowered environmental action by a spectrum of actors, from nuns to care workers. This briefing also saw a solid return of general ocean coverage and standalone pieces, with a high volume of aquatic species-specific articles.
On social media, however, the uplift in tone did not appear to permeate to the same extent. Plastics was replicated as a prominent issue, and content around US politics appeared to make up a large volume of the data collected.