The best mountaineers worldwide came together at the Kiku IMS 2014

At the moment impressive stories and images are fascinating visitors, drawing them into the world of mountain sports, thereby making mountaineering of great interest also to a broad range of media.  From his perspective as a mountaineer, Hanspeter Eisendle, has noticed a negative development in the chronicling of mountaineering news. Reports have become increasingly more superficial. Additionally, product presentations are becoming conventionalized into adventure trips. This trend is leading to a continuous loss of credibility.

Media researcher, journalist and lecturer Prof. Dr. Marlis Prinzing sees a blindspot on the part of the mountaineers as well as on the part of the reporters, both with similar problems. A Japanese person, twittering upon reaching the top of Mount Everest, is the best example of one-sided reporting. Multimedia reality shows are celebrated by various media, but at the same time those who do not twitter have been classified as backwards-oriented mountaineers.

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The recent avalanche disaster which occurred during the Double 8 expedition revealed a weakness in the ethics of the media. Reporters have to ask themselves: did the numerous media reports regarding the expedition turn the expedition into a media show, thereby fueling the pressure on the athletes even more?

Their final summation: there needs to be greater awareness when dealing with social and journalistic media. Mountaineers and journalists are part of the game and should become aware of the blind spot, in order to weigh carefully what should become public and what should be kept private. 

At the start of the final discussion, many internationally renowned mountaineers had their say about the problem. Their positions complemented each other, even if they were expressed from different point of views: On the one hand, Hervé Barmasse considers media to be necessary partners for expeditions, on the other hand what we understand mountaineering to be shouldn't be distorted. Peter Habeler sees the approach to media fundamentally differently: in the past, mountaineers didn't take with them an exaggerated amount of press and they don't need to do it today either. However, nowadays during many expeditions sponsors are in the frontlines, creating publicity. Only afterwards does the actual mountain experience come into play. Thus, there is a lot of hype about the performance and accomplishments even before anything has taken place.

Alain Robert free-climbs skyscrapers. When he is climbing, the media is part of his life; in fact, sometimes media spectacles are even prepared through PR agencies. Without the media his climbing experiences would still be imaginable, but without any financial support they would not be sustainable.
The Scottish climber Dave MacLeod warns that mountaineering could turn into a “reality show”.
He asserts „The more media there are, the more the risk that mountaineering is embellished“.  Nevertheless, he addresses the public, hoping to inspire others so that they will be able to deal with challenges more easily. What is more, he wants to share his experiences by writing his own articles, rather than leave what he experienced up to interpretation by the media.

In Mark Inglis’ opinion, increasing time pressure is the main reason for the lack of depth in reporting. Through real-time updates, especially in the online area, the time necessary to interpret facts and to establish connections is missing.

Reinhold Messner sees many areas that need working on in the current reporting of alpine sports. On the one hand, many sponsors are interested in showing their company logo during a mountain tour. Mountaineering and the latest reported story, though, are two different aspects of alpinism and are quite often mixed together. Moreover, Messner sees  – adding on to what Hanspeter Eisendle already mentioned in his presentation - an increasing loss of journalistic quality. Mountaineering experts are becoming rarer and the broad media world has almost no idea about mountaineering topics. The end result: journalists are informing their readers very poorly.

Messner pleads for new narrative forms; the great adventure doesn’t need any justification. The Twitter example makes all the more clear, how journalists have wrongly assessed the situation. And traditional alpinism is also rarely included in articles. Understanding traditional alpinism forms an important basis for understanding the processes involved in mountaineering. Messner emphasizes that one can't exploit the traditional aspects of alpinism, and then just push them aside. 

At the end of the discussion, representatives from sports associations and journalists also had their say. Especially stories about accidents and the shock and sadness that accompany such happenings lead to one-sided reporting in the tabloid press. Additionally, the media tries to create hype, thereby lessening their own risk. Another reason for the current reporting is that topics revolving around extreme sports are too far from the reality of the lives of the masses and so journalists seek other ways to create heroes.
If one is to have the type of reporting that is not just for the moment, but is lasting, then one has to try to write interestingly about actions and stories in a deeper, more insightful way. The objective should be not to turn the mountain into a stadium where you break new records. In this regard, the reactions of the journalists are absolutely positive. In times of increasing information, quality reporting with deeper, insightful contents would be well-received and appreciated.

At the closing arguments, mountaineers and journalists reached some areas of agreement: Despite the blind spots, it is important to make the very best out of the current situation. In order to achieve this, one has to argue for greater journalistic quality. Journalists should not be indifferent - - also amongst themselves - - about reporting critically and knowing how to deal properly with topics relating to alpinism. Increased ethics about what should not be reported was also brought to the fore: Journalists and mountaineers have to invest time to find the right person to converse with and confide in, as trust forms the basis for interpersonal communication. Moreover, one has to have the courage to refuse to partake in inappropriate conversations or answer inappropriate interview questions. The conscious and thorough examination of topics related to the mountain world would, in the end, strengthen the media's competence thereby bringing long-lasting credibility and understanding to mountaineering

The Kiku. International Mountain Summit is supported by KIKU, GORE-TEX®, MARMOT, BMW, Raiffeisen, Forum and the municipality of Brixen, the Foundation “Südtiroler Sparkasse”, the umbrella brand South Tyrol.