Coverage of climate change found lacking.

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

News coverage of global climate change is on the rise worldwide, but more in-depth international reporting is needed to inform stalled public debate on combating global warming, asserts staff writer Ben Block of the Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C., who maintains that the current state of journalism and the evolving coverage of climate stories--from Climategate to Copenhagen--may be putting the planet in peril.

"The financial decline of traditional journalism organizations has stifled investigative and foreign news. While online news and social media are spreading more information more widely and rapidly, the growing lack of explanatory journalism may nonetheless result in a less informed public. The trend should be a concern for anyone dedicated to environmental sustainability."

While...