Scale and the construction of environmental imaginaries in local news

Abstract

Environmental imaginaries are shaped by a range of influences, including the media. While most analyses of the effects of environmental media coverage focus on national-and international-scale news outlets, local-scale outlets continue to be important: in some cases, they are the most commonly read news sources. We suggest that the role of local news in is particularly significant where local environmental imaginations diverge from global discourses. Mindful of the challenges of defining environmental media, we outline some of the potential implications of the distinctive properties of local environmental news coverage. We then explore the dissonance between global and a specific local environmental imaginary through a case study of community newspaper coverage in Boksburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Our analysis shows a strong focus on so-called-brown‖ issues, including concerns with pollution, water and electricity, in contrast to studies at other scales; when included,-green‖ issues are often presented idiosyncratically. In follow-up focus groups, local residents indicate that local environmental reporting resonates more with their own environmental imaginary than national or international scales of news sources. This disjuncture between local and global imaginaries has significant theoretical and political implications, warranting further investigation of local newspapers and environmental imaginaries.

Assessing local discourses on water in a South African newspaper

“…Although scientific disagreement is certainly part of the controversy, the articles identified the central issues as political and economic. These articles contrast with other findings that suggest local newspapers are reluctant to critique local industries (Hansen 2010, Lawhon et al 2015, and reinforce the notion of The Sowetan as a liberal voice that emphasises political perspectives. Outbreaks of cholera often prompted a series of articles.…”

“…Second, we need to better understand the ability of readers to distinguish between news written as journalism and as advocacy from particular positions such as government or business. Findings from focus groups in South Africa for a different newspaper indicate some awareness of (and frustration with) local media for uncritical presentation of government propaganda; however, more research is needed to elaborate on these findings (Lawhon et al 2015).…”

“…For example, local news may provide more friendly coverage of local businesses (Taylor et al 2000, Hansen 2010) and serve as a voice for local government (Wakefield and Elliot 2003). Local media outlets remain important to both residents and decision-makers particularly in the global South; while Franklin and Murphy (2005) note dropping consumption of local newspapers in the UK, they remain an important source of information in South Africa (Lawhon et al 2015).…”

“…Water is a well-studied topic, and thus provides useful comparative perspectives; this narrower focus also reduces the selected bias involved in defining environmental media (see Lawhon et al 2015). Political ecologists interested in questions of justice and the environment have questioned dominant explanations of water problems, including narratives of "natural" disasters such as droughts and floods (Watts 1983, Davis 2004, as well as constructed scarcity in the urban context (Swyngedouw 2004, Kaika 2005.…”

The intertwining of world news with Sustainable Development Goals: An effective monitoring tool

“…January 2014 -July 2015 (Lawhon et al, 2018) The article explores the structure of the public discourse concerning the Gateway project. (Lyngdoh et al, 2017) The article explores how the conflict between wildlife and humans was framed by the news media.…”