Global music star, Jon Batiste, says the growing number of people avoiding the news is worrying, but believes the solution lies in focusing on climate action and collective power.
“People power is the way that you can change things in the world,” Batiste said in an interview organised last week by Covering Climate Now (CCNow).
“I don’t want to hear about the problem if you don’t have an answer.” His latest song on climate change, Petrichor, he added, is not just a warning but a call to action: “It’s saying we can solve it.”
Batiste’s comments come as fresh research shows news avoidance is at record levels. The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2025 found that 40% of people worldwide now avoid the news. Many survey respondents said traditional reporting often highlights conflict, political power struggles, and human suffering — leaving them feeling helpless and prompting them to tune out.
Against this backdrop, The 89 Percent Project is seeking to change how the climate story is told. Launched in April 2025 as a year-long global journalistic effort, the initiative builds on scientific studies showing that between 80% and 89% of people worldwide want stronger climate action from their governments. Yet many do not realise they are part of this overwhelming majority, and as a result, they often fail to mobilise politically or socially.
The next phase of the project shifts focus from numbers to people: who makes up this climate majority, where they live, what they do, and what climate policies they hope to see.
Journalists across the globe are already joining in. The Guardian in the UK has invited readers to share views and personal experiences. In Brazil, investigative outlet Agência Pública hit the streets for interviews, while in Japan, The Asahi Shimbun combined opinion poll analysis with its own reporting.
For Africa, where climate change is already reshaping livelihoods and deepening inequalities, the project offers an opening to amplify ordinary voices that are often left out of global climate conversations. Farmers, fisherfolk, students, and young activists across the continent form part of the global climate majority but rarely see themselves reflected in media coverage.
By putting names, faces, and voices to the statistics, CCNow says it hopes to counter both news fatigue and climate fatalism; showing that the climate majority is diverse, real, and powerful. For African newsrooms, it is also a chance to strengthen public trust by reporting not only on the risks, but also on the solutions communities are already creating.
