Environmentalists' Mediawork for Jumbo Pass and the Tobeatic Wilderness, Canada: Combining Text-Centred and Activist-Centred Approaches to News Media and Social Movements

Abstract

For social movements, the mass media are a key means of reaching potential supporters, engaging public and political debate and reshaping cultural interpretations of relationships with the non-human environment. We examine how outdoor sport becomes the object of environmental movement mobilization and media claims-making in conflict over the Jumbo Pass ski resort, British Columbia, and Off-Highway Vehicle use in the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, Nova Scotia. We use provincial and national news coverage and interviews with key movement actors to examine how activists interpret the success or failure of their media work. We find that environmentalists are generally successful at translating claims on behalf of nature to a general audience through newspaper coverage. Using an activist-centred approach to media and social movements, interviews with core activists provide insight into barriers that persist and characterize environmental movement relationships with the media.

Everyday life in a magnificent landscape: Making sense of the nature/culture dichotomy in the mountains of Jämtland, Sweden

“…Discussions concerning the need to regulate snowmobiling as much as possible symbolize what Stoddart (2011) and Stoddart et al (2015) established, that certain outdoor activities are perceived to be better than others in terms of respecting the environment. Also perceived as having a negative effect on nature by certain respondents, were particular activities that had lately increased in popularity, especially amongst tourists, like horseback riding and mountain biking.…”

“…For Stoddart (2011), while discourses of nature can aim at its preservation by outlining its fragility, they can also discipline us to leave it untouched. Concurrently, nature can be framed as a resource for self-development, relaxation and adventure (Stoddart, 2011;Stoddart et al, 2015). Landscape perceptions and uses of nature are intertwined with power relations that have numerous effects and implications (Demeritt, 2001(Demeritt, , 2002.…”

“…Stoddart (2011) explains that outdoor recreation and environmental protection are not necessarily compatible as there are disagreements over what activities are appropriate in nature. For example, Stoddart (2011) identifies the existence of environmentalist mobilization against alpine ski resorts and off-road vehicle development in Canada, noting that other activities, such as hiking, canoeing and cross-country skiing, are accepted as legitimate ways to enjoy nature (see also Stoddart et al., 2015). These dilemmas further reflect dualistic conceptions of nature where humans should be left out of it.…”

Discourse Network Analysis

“…Discourse network analysis has been applied to several policy sectors like pension politics (Leifeld, 2013;, climate politics (Fisher, Leifeld and Iwaki, 2013;Fisher, Waggle and Leifeld, 2013;Broadbent andVaughter, 2014, Gkiouzepas andBotetzagias, 2015;Schneider and Ollmann, 2013;Wagner and Payne 2015;Yun et al, 2014), software patents and property rights (Leifeld and Haunss, 2012;Herweg, 2013), internet policy (Breindl 2013), infrastructure projects (Nagel, 2015), energy policy (Brutschin, 2013;Haunss, Dietz, and Nullmeier, 2013;Mayer, 2015;Rinscheid, 2015;Rinscheid et al, 2015), shooting rampages (Hurka and Nebel, 2013), abortion (Muller, 2014a(Muller, , 2014b(Muller, , 2015, outdoor sports (Stoddart, Ramos and Tindall 2015), water politics (Brandenberger et al, 2015;Cisneros 2015), deforestation (Rantala and Di Gregorio, 2014), genetically modified organisms (Tosun and Schaub 2015), higher education (Nägler 2015), and online deception (Wu and Zhou, 2015), among others.…”

What Gets Covered? An Examination of Media Coverage of the Environmental Movement in Canada

“…Some argue that this is less of a concern in the modern media environment, where social movement actors can use alternative media or their own media (such as organizational Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and their own Web sites) to distribute their message. For example, past work (Stoddart and MacDonald ; Stoddart, Ramos, and Tindall ) shows that environmental group Web sites discuss a greater range of environmental risks and provide more detailed discussion of core issues than traditional media. However, these alternative avenues deliver messages primarily to those who are already sympathetic (as they are already on the group's email list, Facebook page, or Twitter feed) and not to the general public, who are exposed to social movement messages only through the mainstream media.…”