POLLUTION AND MEDIA

Pollution and Media



Pollution and Media

Introduction

Environmental journalism refers to news coverage of events, issues, and conditions related to the health of environments and ecosystems through media. Environments include land, air, and water and may be natural (a lake or forest, for example) or built (such as a reservoir or city park). Ecosystems refer to interrelated populations of animals, plants, and other species within a given habitat, including human communities, and they also may be natural (for example, a wildlife habitat, such as a spawning ground) or built (such as a fish farm).

Many venues for environmental information exist, but environmental journalism refers to materials published by news in media that adhere to, and grapple with, the professional practices of journalism, including aiming for objectivity and balance. News refers to information prepared by journalists for general audiences and disseminated in newspapers, magazines, radio and television newscasts, and on the Internet. This includes specialized and niche publications, such as online environmental news services and regional environmental periodicals that follow the journalistic tradition. It generally does not include advocacy materials, such as public relations brochures or magazines published by environmental groups (Allan, 2000, N.D).

News stories from the environment beat often focus on human actions that have contributed or might contribute to the deterioration of environments and ecosystems, including their impacts on human health. Environmental news also can be purely explanatory, such as describing how air pollution travels from one part of the world to another or relaying details of research into the medicinal properties of endangered plants. Environmental journalists also strive to provide news that people can use, such as tips on how to “go green.”

Discussion

Environmental journalism is usually considered a subcategory of science news, which early on was linked to concerted efforts on the part of the new scientific community to promote mass media coverage of its research, considered by some a public service and by others a form of advocacy. National Geographic Magazine, for example, was founded in 1888 by a group that included geographers, meteorologists, cartographers, biologists, and engineers who aimed to disseminate research findings among the U.S. population in order to increase their knowledge of the world where we all live. But science as a news beat did not fully develop until after both World Wars, when public and news media interest in scientific issues was catalyzed by the devastation caused by weapons such as tear gas and the atomic bomb (Sachsman, 2006, 93).

At first only a handful of reporters had covered science news. Organizations such as the National Association of Science Writers formed and began efforts to foster relationships between journalists and scientists to help ensure that important findings reached the public in accurate forms. Then after World War II, space exploration, and the cold war, competition for prowess in this area attracted more journalists to science. While only about 60 science writers were working before World War II, by 1960 nearly one fourth of 1,500 U.S. daily and Sunday newspapers had assigned a full- or part-time ...