CBS Stations is launching the news franchise On the Dot with David Schechter this week, focusing on the causes and impacts of climate change. Schechter is national environmental correspondent at CBS Stations. He and Chance Horner, senior photojournalist and producer, produce On the Dot with a team of producers and data journalists from the CBS Local News Innovation Lab in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Each longform story is uniquely produced to take the audience on a journey of discovery with Schechter as their guide. He virtually transports viewers to places where scientists are measuring and documenting climate change.
“The objective of On the Dot with David Schechter is to make climate change more relevant and personal to viewers,” Chad Cross, VP of content development, CBS Stations, said. “We’ll make the science and data compelling and easier to understand.”
The first special report, Carbon Dioxide: The Invisible Problem, will appear in local newscasts and streams of CBS stations this week, debuting as early as January 10 in some markets. It takes viewers to the top of a Hawaiian volcano where scientists have calculated the highest levels of atmospheric carbon pollution in four million years.
“Most people know something about climate change, but may not fully get it,” Schechter said. “We want to provide the facts and show the science to grow our viewers’ knowledge and understanding. I think of it as giving them ‘climate confidence,’ and that’s the real value of these stories.”
Other stories will explore topics such as rising sea levels and the increasing extremes of storms, droughts and wildfires.
“Destructiveness of extreme weather is one of the biggest stories of our time,“ CBS Stations president Adrienne Roark said. “On the Dot reflects the commitment of CBS Stations to talk about the causes as much as the effects of climate change.”
Schechter and Horner won a 2021 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton award for reporting about climate change.
“Earth is so massive that many of us don’t feel a real connection to our planet or understand how we’re affecting it,” Cross added. “These stories go straight to the data and the experts who gather it, letting viewers see for themselves what’s happening to our atmosphere, oceans, and more.”
The On the Dot name comes from the idea that, seen from the vastness of space, humans all live together on a tiny blue dot. “It’s a planet with finite resources and we must use them wisely or risk losing them — a very real threat,” Schechter said. “The driving idea behind the name is that we’re all on this dot together.” ■
