Expert on Fridays for Future and Last Generation: They make a living making drama
Created: 01/14/2023, 08:10
By: Max Mueller
Police officers clear the camp of climate activists and squatters in Lützerath.
© Jochen Tack/imago
Everywhere you look: disasters.
Perception is the real problem, says "Gute Nachrichten" journalist Florian Vitello.
He avoids horror stories.
Is that deluded or just right?
Cologne – Whoever navigated through social media and the various reviews at the turn of the year can only have learned one lesson: 2022 was a damn modest year.
Florian Vitello sees things differently in an interview with the
Munich
newspaper IPPEN.MEDIA.
The journalist founded the "Good News Magazine" and wrote the book "Good News - How we learn to defend ourselves against the flood of bad news".
Vitello is 30 years old and lives in Bonn.
Mr. Vitello, since this week the weather phenomenon "El Niño" has been discussed.
Accordingly, the next record summer threatens in 2023.
How do you deal with such reports?
Florian Vitello: I only read selected news.
When there is a lot of breaking news, I think: It has zero added value for me, especially when negative headlines keep appearing over and over again.
At some point you really believe that everything is just going down the drain.
The feeling of permanent crisis is anything but new – you just have to look for contemporary documents from the 50s, 60s or 70s.
Climate change isn't worth a negative headline?
Yes, of course!
But first, "El Niño" is a regularly occurring natural phenomenon.
It is not scientifically clear whether it will be affected by climate change.
Secondly, "El Niño" is always a catastrophe and therefore force majeure.
As an individual, what should I do with this information?
It leaves me demotivated and at a loss.
It has been proven that fear of climate change is growing and paralyzing people.
Then the “Last Generation” and “Fridays for Future” have achieved their goal after all.
Yet you say their communication is wrong.
Why?
Activism and NGOs thrive on dramatization.
By its very nature, fundraising ventures point to disasters every day.
I can understand that.
But the effect is dramatic.
More and more people are completely overwhelmed.
Every day we get drummed into it: We are helpless.
Aren't we helpless?
The individual will not stop climate change – not with recyclable cups, not riding a bicycle, not with a solar cell on the roof.
No, we are not helpless!
Every day so many wonderful people get involved with the most creative solutions.
Every day we make advances in research.
We just often don't see these positive developments.
More people than ever are reducing their meat consumption, fewer rainforests are being cut down than ever before, and the EU countries have set a solar power record.
Luisa Neubauer and Greta Thunberg would say: It's not enough.
That's their job, and in the short term, that's the right thing to do.
In the long term, on the other hand, the way we think about our world is changing.
We humans have proven in the past that we can turn utopias into reality.
But we have to take action immediately, all together.
False outrage and cynical pessimism stand in the way.
In my book, I quote a study according to which more than half of all young people worldwide feel powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
That's why we need, especially the many volunteers, stage victories that we can be proud of.
Only then will we stay on the ball. Only then will we have the strength to stand up for others.
A flood of images of burning rainforests or starving children misses their purpose.
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Florian Vitello: "Positive news is more sustainable"
One of the climate activists' successes cannot be denied: Today, every company has to meet the highest ecological standards.
Is that so?
When in doubt, showing off virtue and moralism tend to lead to more greenwashing (Editor's note: trying to give yourself a positive image without taking serious action).
Let's take a look at Lützerath at the moment.
A giant corporation that has the upper hand and parts of politics are hiding behind hypocritical arguments about the rule of law and security of supply.
It is heartbreaking that a government with green participation is unable or unwilling to negotiate a halt to mining.
What kind of signal are we sending out into the world?
But the much more important question is: How can we encourage all those people who want to do something?
Counter-question: If climate activists only spread positive news from tomorrow - would you still listen?
They're not supposed to.
At the same time, it is a fallacy that only negative news is of interest.
We see that, for example, with the issue of donations.
It is absolutely common to print impoverished children undignified on huge billboards.
Of course we look at it, I do that too.
We might even donate.
But: Are we dealing with the problem in the long term?
no
We feel better for a moment and quickly suppress it.
Positive news and examples of solutions are much more sustainable.
Florian Vitello is looking for good news full-time.
© mondorf-fotografie
About IPPEN.MEDIA
The IPPEN.MEDIA network is one of the largest online publishers in Germany.
At the locations in Berlin, Hamburg/Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna, journalists from our central editorial office research and publish for more than 50 news offers.
These include brands such as Münchner Merkur, Frankfurter Rundschau and BuzzFeed Germany.
Our news, interviews, analyzes and comments reach more than 5 million people in Germany every day.
Study: 37 percent of younger people try to avoid the news
I make headlines myself.
In my experience, the more dramatic the line, the more people click.
A plane has landed safely, nobody cares.
A plane has crashed is breaking news.
Oh, that's a very nice example.
To be very provocative: To what extent is it relevant to me that a plane crashed?
If we look at the statistics, then we see that there is no safer way to travel than by plane.
That's exactly why it's so interesting.
Wouldn't you be interested in such news?
before.
I used to be a news junkie.
For example, the crash of the Germanwings plane in 2015 affected me very much.
My roommate knew people who died then.
I myself flew the same route a year earlier, from Barcelona to Düsseldorf - same flight number, same airline.
The whole reporting is then always exaggeratedly state-supporting.
Reporters are simply standing in front of a field and don't even know what's going on.
Nobody has any information, you don't know anything at the time.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with reporting about it from a distance and on the basis of many discussions.
But then the next sow is already being driven through the village.
What was the added value of getting updates on conjectures for weeks?
The added value is your click.
Apparently you were interested.
Yes and no.
Clicks are nice, but they don't secure my livelihood.
I can only pay my editorial staff properly if our community remains loyal in the form of a subscription.
For me, that is economic sustainability.
In addition, from a journalistic point of view, what sticks with the readers is much more relevant to me.
Everyone around me says: I can't take it anymore, new horror stories every day.
Numbers underline this. The "Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022" comes to the conclusion that 29 percent of Germans sometimes or even often avoid news.
Of younger people, 37 percent try to avoid news at least sometimes.
It is a matter of time before the current model reaches its economic limits with increasingly blatant negative reports.
For years, the media have been fighting against circulation losses.
Many publishers can no longer pay their employees properly.
From a meta perspective, that may be true.
Nevertheless: In the short term, the horror message works better.
objection.
That's just not true - and there is also evidence of this, for example an investigation by the German Press Agency.
There it could be determined that solution-oriented, explanatory background pieces lead to a longer stay of the readers.
What news gives you hope?
Where should I start?
Personally, I am particularly enthusiastic about medical innovations.
Lupus, a rare autoimmune disease, could be treated for the first time.
There are now donor organs for all blood types.
Several patients have been cured of HIV, most recently the first woman.
In general, medicine focuses much more on the needs of women and non-white people.
Pollution is decreasing in the North Sea.
In the Great Barrier Reef, corals have grown more than they have in 36 years.
There is good news every day.
