Old-Growth Forests on Network News: News Sources and the Framing of An Environmental Controversy

Abstract

The ohi-growth forest debate involves tii>o sides ("procut" and "pro- save") presenting competing views of the issue. Television news stories may reflect one or theOther af theseframes through (1) choice of sources, (2) choiceof visuals,and (3) reporter's summary remarks. IVf examined four j /ears of coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC, and found that while the distribution of visuals was inconclusive, source use and reporter wrap-ups predominantly reflected Ihe procut frame. This may be because the procut frame emphasized an unambiguous conflict that was more ame nable to brief explanations.

Analysis of mass media news on forest issues: a case study of Spain

“…The news constitutes one of the only existing mechanisms to analyze social perceptions when no polls are conducted, and it provides an excellent follow-up of social perceptions. Analysis of the content of the news media has repeatedly been shown to produce results that parallel the findings of attitude surveys, as a single ex-post mechanism, for many public policy issues (e.g., Fan, 1997;Gamson & Modigliani, 1989;Salwen, 1988;Shah et al, 2002), including environmental and natural resource issues (e.g., Bengston et al, 2001;Kepplinger & Roth, 1979;Liebler & Bendix, 1996;Williams, 2000;Wilson, 1995).…”

News Authorship and News Sources: Impacts on Environmental Coverage in The Nigerian Press

“…Berkowitz and Beach (1993) argue that news sources serve to influence or set reporting agenda as journalists depend on them for story topics and contents. Selecting news sources has become so critical that Liebler and Bendix (1996) believe that the sources selected determine how the news organizations frame environmental issues. In regard to what influences source selection, Anderson, Petersen, and David (2005: 192) contend that such factors as 'professional and pragmatic demands, existing knowledge of an issue, the existence of contacts in the field, and commercial pressures' play decisive role.…”

“…It has often been said that most of environmental coverage are driven by crisis or events. Bendix and Liebler (1996). This according to Greenberg et al (1989) is an approach influenced by traditional news values which fails to explain the underlying issues that caused the crisis.…”

“…The apparent lack of explanation of what causes environmental degradation implies that information that would help the public to react positively to environmental problems is not mobilized. (Liebler and Bendix, 1996) for environmental stories to be meaningful, journalists must mobilize relevant information from sources. Therefore the selection of and portrayal of news sources, as Liebler and Bendix (1996) assert, is central to writing a good environmental story.…”

“…(Liebler and Bendix, 1996) for environmental stories to be meaningful, journalists must mobilize relevant information from sources. Therefore the selection of and portrayal of news sources, as Liebler and Bendix (1996) assert, is central to writing a good environmental story.…”