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

Abstract

Aim of study: The aim of this paper is to analyze how the news media influences the construction of the social perception of forests and forestry.Area of study: The area covered by this study is Spain. Material and Methods:The materials used for the analysis were the online news related to items such as forest, bioenergy and biodiversity, in two leading newspapers in Spain from 2009 to 2012. The hypotheses tested were divided into two sets, one focused on the messages and another focused on the sources on these messages. Summative content analysis was applied, combining both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The messages and sources were systematically explored and monitored.Main results: As main results, forest wildfires news is the most frequent issue mentioned in the media, however they require deeper reflection and debate. Keywords such as forest management, owners, harvesting, products, etc. are rarely found anymore; furthermore, new terms such as biomass, are not yet prevalent. On sources, official institutions, primarily the regional governments, dominate the news sources with a share of over 50%.Research highlights: Mass media analysis is considered the most appropriate complement for perception studies as it provides relevant basic information needed to design a communication plan. Further research is required on the role mass media plays in how we perceive and react to the environmental problems around us.

Global trends in wildfire and its impacts: perceptions versus realities in a changing world

“…Whether as open biomass burning or as the relatively recent practice of combusting fossil fuels in engines and power stations, fire has been a key factor in the rise of human societies [4,5]. Yet, over the past couple of centuries the traditional European perception of fire has been implemented in many parts of the world (box 1), and fire in the landscape (commonly termed wildfire, wildland fire or landscape fire) has been typically considered as 'bad' and our focus on the whole has been on eliminating or at least containing it [16][17][18]. The 'command and control' attitude of most Western societies neglects the fundamental role that fire has in sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem health [11,19].…”

Mapping moral consciousness in research on historical consciousness and education - a summative content analysis of 512 research articles published between 1980 and 2020

“…Contrary to conventional and direct content analysis, a summative content analysis has the potential to provide an overview of the words that occur during certain time periods and their frequency (e.g. Edling & Mooney Simmie, 2018;Fabra-Crespo & Rojas-Briales, 2015;Riffe et al, 2005). We maintain that the latter says something substantial about which value concepts gain more emphasis (are more popular) than others in different time spans, which in turn can spur discussions about the reasons for these changes in emphasis.…”

“…The direct and conventional content analyses do not include a quantitative and qualitative dimension in their methodology. As we see merit in mapping both meaning and the number of times words occur in different time spans, the summative content analysis seems more appropriate in our context (see also Edling & Mooney Simmie, 2018;Fabra-Crespo & Rojas-Briales, 2015;Krippendorff, 2013). Moreover, as the material to be analysed is large, a summative content analysis seems to be a better choice of methodology than qualitative forms of content analysis, because it helps to gain an overview of a complex set of information.…”

“…A summative content analysis is a qualitative form of analysis with a minor quantitative dimension that counts, compares, and interprets the use of keywords to get an idea of patterns, meaning, and frequency of word use (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p.1277, see also Fabra-Crespo & Rojas-Briales, 2015). Indeed, a summative content analysis is not merely about counting words but involves a dimension of examining language systematically as a means of categorizing massive amount of text based on their similar connotations (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, pp.…”

Water Availability for Cannabis in Northern California: Intersections of Climate, Policy, and Public Discourse

“…Content analysis is a systematic way of capturing the frequency of ideas and assessing the content of textual data, particularly in the media [65,66]. Rather than an objective representation, news media provide a subjective construction of reality through the purposeful selection of perspective and facts [67,68]. Thus, news media can help set the agenda of public opinion and frame messages within a debate [69][70][71][72][73], as well as present perspectives of various interest groups [66,[74][75][76].…”