Mass Communication Research in Sustainability Science: Moving Toward an Engaged Approach to Address Society’s Sustainability Dilemma

Smith, Hollie; Suldovsky, Brianne; Lindenfeld, Laura

doi:10.1080/15205436.2016.1167916

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…This study also has implications for sustainability science more broadly. This study embraces the idea that mass communication research can aid sustainability science endeavors such as NEST's Safe Beaches and Shellfish Project (Smith et al, 2016) and that content analysis in particular can pinpoint areas for the creation of news media content that advances policy (Dorfman, 2003). We contend that media analyses like the current study can aid sustainability and environmental science efforts in two key ways.…”

Section: Implications For Science Communication and Sustainability Scmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…and pathogenic bacterial contamination, improving testing procedures for detecting pathogens, improving the capacity to predict pollution events, and understanding the social dimensions of beach and shellfish flat management, closures, and public communication. Mass communication research can aid sustainability science endeavors such as NEST's Safe Beaches and Shellfish Project (Smith et al, 2016). This study was conducted as a part of the Safe Beaches and Shellfish Project to gain insight into the media landscape surrounding shellfish bacterial contamination in Maine.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Communicating Environmental Risks: Local Newspaper Coverage of Shellfish Bacterial Contamination in Maine

Suldovsky

Arbor

Skillin³

et al. 2018

Front. Commun.

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Coastal resources play a vital role in Maine's cultural and economic wellbeing, contributing an estimated 168 billion dollars to the Maine economy. There are numerous risks to the sustainability of Maine's shellfishing industry and working waterfront, including pathogenic bacterial pollution. In this study, we ask a broad fundamental question central to science and environmental journalism: how do newspapers cover localized environmental risks and what are the implications of those approaches? Utilizing the northeastern US state of Maine's shellfishing industry as an exemplar environmental issue, this study examines how Maine's two most read newspapers, the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald, report on bacterial contamination and shellfish. This study examines the themes that are present in the newspaper articles published about shellfish between 2003 and 2014 and analyses the types of sources journalists used within their coverage of these issues. Overall, we identified seven key themes: economic concerns, environmental impacts, political and regulatory issues, issues of public health and safety, reference to cultural values, technical and infrastructural issues, and aesthetic concerns. The most commonly cited individuals in the articles were government officials and scientists. The least cited groups were clammers and shellfishermen, general citizens, advocacy groups, and worm diggers. Implications for local coverage of environmental risks in Maine, science communication, and sustainability science are discussed.

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Section: Implications For Science Communication and Sustainability Scmentioning

confidence: 85%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Communicating Environmental Risks: Local Newspaper Coverage of Shellfish Bacterial Contamination in Maine

Suldovsky

Arbor

Skillin³

et al. 2018

Front. Commun.

Self Cite

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“…PEA is defined as an action that causes least harm or benefits the environment [ 63 ]. While declarative knowledge may affect one's intent to act, this knowledge may not be the only motivating factor, as purported by the theory of planned behaviour and the mixed messaging from the information deficit model [ [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , 64 ]. There are additional factors, in addition to declarative knowledge, that may also affect whether a person with a certain level of knowledge about environmentally sustainable actions may choose to act upon them.…”

Section: Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, there are mixed messages regarding whether a lack of knowledge (information deficit) is the reason for not acting pro-environmentally. Some studies show that the information deficit model communication method has not been known to work in modifying behaviour [ [22] , [23] , [24] ]. In contrast, recent studies are refreshing the usability of the information deficit model as an effective tool if used inventively [ [25] , [26] , [27] ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complex relationship between carbon literacy and pro-environmental actions among engineering students

Ram,

MacLean,

Tihanyi

et al. 2023

Heliyon

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“…The media coverage of CSR in different contexts indicates the varying level of CSR promotion and how CSR topics shifted contextually (Barkemeyer et al , 2009). Thus, it is important to look at the CSR news agendas within the given cultural and social contexts (Smith et al , 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understand corporate social responsibility from an agenda setting perspective: a cross-national analysis of newspaper using computer-assisted content analysis

Zhang

Dong

2021

JGR

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Purpose This study aims to explore multifaceted corporate social responsibility (CSR) covered in popular English newspapers in the UK, USA, mainland China and Hong Kong from 2000 to 2016 via a computer-assisted analytical approach. This study moves the understanding of CSR away from corporate self-reporting to the mass media and raises interesting questions about the role of the news media in presenting CSR as a multifaceted, socially constructed concept. Design/methodology/approach Data were retrieved from CSR-related news articles from 2000 to 2016 that were archived in the LexisNexis database. Guided by the theoretical framework of agenda setting, a computer-assisted content analysis (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) was used to analyze 4,487 CSR-related articles from both business and non-business news sources. Analysis of variance was used to compare salient CSR topics in each country/region. Findings This study identifies newspapers as an alternate to corporations’ attempts to distribute CSR information and construct CSR meaning. The findings revealed that the news communicates a variety of CSR issues that are aligned or beyond what CSR was defined in corporate CSR reporting, as suggested in previous studies. In addition, CSR news coverages differ between the business and nonbusiness news sources. Furthermore, the media tone of CSR coverage significantly differed across the regions and between the business and nonbusiness newspapers. Social implications Emerging topics in CSR news coverage, such as business education, could help companies identify untapped CSR realms in the market. Originality/value This study contributes to CSR communication research by adding a non-corporate perspective regarding what CSR means and should be focused on. The news media presents CSR using a heterogeneous approach as they not only provide surface reports on corporations’ CSR activities but also offer in-depth discussions.

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Mass Communication Research in Sustainability Science: Moving Toward an Engaged Approach to Address Society’s Sustainability Dilemma

Abstract: Mass communication scholarship provides invaluable insight into how discursive trends in media reflect, produce, and obscure society's most pressing sustainability issues, yet too often this research falls short of creating action, Hollie Smith

Cited by 9 publications

References 74 publications

Communicating Environmental Risks: Local Newspaper Coverage of Shellfish Bacterial Contamination in Maine

Communicating Environmental Risks: Local Newspaper Coverage of Shellfish Bacterial Contamination in Maine

The complex relationship between carbon literacy and pro-environmental actions among engineering students

Understand corporate social responsibility from an agenda setting perspective: a cross-national analysis of newspaper using computer-assisted content analysis

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