• Launching today is Extinction Rebellion-supported independent newspaper The Hourglass
• Printed on recycled paper with a distribution of over 110K papers, The Hourglass will be distributed around the UK by Rebels from Extinction Rebellion’s regional groups across the UK who believe in telling the truth through the press
• Aiming to reach people who are not necessarily on social media, and who still read and trust traditional press, The Hourglass’s first edition features a front page exclusive with Dr Wolfgang Knorr, a climate scientist and former Deputy Leader of a major NERC climate research project at the University of Bristol, who apologises for his inaction on the Climate & Ecological Emergency
• In The Hourglass, readers can expect stories similar to that of a mainstream newspaper like The Metro while at times hitting the tone of Take a Break, all the time approaching climate reporting as should already be the norm in the press
• The news comes as Extinction Rebellion today also announces an independent Whistleblower gateway, TruthTeller.life – developed with Extinction Rebellion’s support – which offers a safe way for concerned citizens to anonymously expose what they know about the true scale of the crisis and how it will impact us all
• On 7 October, the next phase of Extinction Rebellion’s International will begin in more than 60 cities around the world.

Extinction Rebellion has today launched a newspaper called The Hourglass. Printed on recycled paper and with a distribution of over 110k papers, The Hourglass will be distributed around the UK by rebels from Extinction Rebellion’s regional groups across the UK who believe in telling the truth through the press.

The Hourglass aims to reach people who are not necessarily on social media, and who still read and trust traditional press. Readers can expect stories similar to that of a mainstream newspaper like The Metro while at times hitting the tone of Take a Break, all the time approaching climate reporting as should already be the norm in the press.

The Hourglass’s first edition features a front page exclusive with Dr Wolfgang Knorr, a climate scientist and former Deputy Leader of a major NERC climate research project at the University of Bristol, who apologises for his inaction on the Climate & Ecological Emergency. As well as telling the news, there’s a feature interview with Ray Mears, a satire segment by Jonathan Pie, a Youth Voice segment, comment features by Cathy Eastburn about ‘Why she chose to go to prison’ plus by academic Rupert Read, with music, reviews, and more.

The news comes as Extinction Rebellion also announces an independent whistleblower gateway, TruthTeller.life – developed with Extinction Rebellion’s support – which offers a safe way for concerned citizens to anonymously expose what they know about the true scale of the crisis and how it will impact us all. 

What if news reporting reflected the fact the Climate and Ecological Emergency is real?

Zion Lights, lead Editor of The Hourglass said: “The Hourglass newspaper is not a special edition of ‘climate reporting’, but a paper that aims to Tell The Truth. If we look at the main discussions taking place amongst politicians and on the news, the Climate and Ecological Emergency are on the backseat – when they’re passengers at all.

“This means that it’s difficult to keep the crisis on the agenda, or to communicate the pressing threat of it, and therefore the need to act, to the wider public.

“In World War Two, ‘war reporting’ became the norm, but journalists were initially not urged to do this: ‘The Murrow Boys’ defied their bosses to tell the truth of the war to the American public, which changed the outcome of what happened. As president of the Schumann Media Centre Bill Moyers says, “Reporting the truth is always the basis for any moral authority we can claim as journalists. Reporting the truth about climate disruption, and its solutions, could be contagious.”

The crisis we are facing is unlike any war this country has ever seen, but action is lacking, because the absence of widespread, continuous reporting, makes it easy for us to ignore it.

Zion continued, “We are sorry to have to use war terminology here, but the language appropriate to the current attack on nature and mass extinction doesn’t seem to exist yet.We live in sad times when a 16 year old girl has to cry before world leaders to get them to sit up and take notice of the scale of the emergency we are in.”

This is not a radical newspaper – even if telling the truth has become a revolutionary act. The Hourglass is an attempt to show the mainstream media what reporting should already look like, and hope that in some small way, it might help to lead the media – by being the media.

Chris Ledward, who worked on the design of The Hourglass, said: “I came on board for the chance to help convey a visual message, to form an emotional plea to open our eyes. Image and design is a strong visual message that can be seen and heard, combine that with heartfelt words and you have a way to break through. 

“A newspaper is a way to take things back to black and white, it’s worked for centuries, before technology became so advanced. It’s a way to shout when everything else has become noise. 

“If we all shout loud enough, hopefully someone will listen, and if someone will listen, then hopefully we will take action.”

Ronan McNern, Media and Messaging Coordinator for Extinction Rebellion, commented: “I hope that this helps to inspire those news and features editors out there to think big, and to see that they as journalists have a role to play in this emergency. Your talent of telling a story has never been so important. Extinction Rebellion supports you in every effort you can make as part of the shift in consciousness we need to face into this, to inform people about what is happening, to talk about the difficult things and also to shine a light on what we can do with a little bit of courage. In these dark times, I look forward to seeing what comes next for journalism in the UK.”

To help with distribution of The Hourglass contact: distributionxrnewspaper@gmail.com

Notes

For Extinction Rebellion:

Email: press@risingup.org.uk

Phone: +44(0)7986671716 | +44(0)7811183633 | +44(0)7561098449 | +44(0)7938395439

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Media Assets

For The Hourglass team: hourglass@rebellion.earth

About Extinction Rebellion:

Time has almost entirely run out to address the ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices, with human extinction also a possibility, if rapid action is not taken.

Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.

Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are:

1. Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
2. Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
3. Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

What Emergency? | Extinction Rebellion in Numbers |This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook

Get involved:

• In the UK, come to one of our events, join the Rebellion Network and let us know how you can help out.
• Start a group where you are: in the UK or around the world.
• Find your local group.
• Check out the International XR website, with links to the French, German, Italian and UK websites.
• And while your time and energy are of most importance, if you are financially able to donate money, see our crowdfunder.

About Rising Up!

Extinction Rebellion is an initiative of the Rising Up! network, which promotes a fundamental change of our political and economic system to one which maximises well-being and minimises harm. Change needs to be nurtured in a culture of reverence, gratitude and inclusion while the tools of civil disobedience and direct action are used to express our collective power.