Newspaper Reporting of Whaling in Australia and Japan: A Comparative Content Analysis

Abstract

Abstracte ongoing dispute over whaling is a signi cant issue of con ict between Australia and Japan. It appears that the print media in each country supports the dominant opinion: anti-whaling in Australia, and pro-whaling in Japan. To investigate media perspectives, this study reviews newspaper coverage throughout a whaling season (15 December 2007 -24 March 2008, analysing 48 articles from Australian newspapers (in English) and 51 articles from Japanese newspapers (in Japanese). Content analysis was employed to identify the characteristics of the newspaper articles. It is believed that reporting can contribute to cultural and political transparency by providing comprehensive views on the whaling issue. However, the ndings here indicate that the current state of whaling reporting tends to be one-sided. is study assesses how the whaling issue is reported in both Australia and Japan, and what in uences that reporting. It also focuses on Japan's kisha club (reporters' club) system to shed some light on why Japanese journalists report pro-whaling perspectives given international criticism from Australia.

Wildlife and Newspaper Reporting in Iran: A Data Analysis Approach

“…In earlier research on ‘general environmental’ and ‘water’ news items, it was noted that the educating news items were the lowest, with 9% [ 52 ] and 2% [ 59 ], respectively. Media outlets must play a role as educators as part of their essential functions [ 19 ], though they must be treated with caution when considered for public education about wildlife [ 23 ]. Delclaux and Fleury [ 70 ] stressed the need for newspapers to aid with communication between special interest groups and, thereby, promote public dialogue and enhance understanding.…”

“…Local people sometimes perceive wildlife and/or wildlife conservation plans as threats to their health, tranquillity, recreation, income, livestock, crops, lands, properties, buildings, and other assets; e.g., [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Wildlife conservation can sometimes become a disputed issue at a regional or international level, for example, whale hunting caused friction between Australia and Japan [ 19 ]. On a broader scale, the recent era coincided with an increase in human confrontation with wildlife, described as the ‘wildland–urban interface’ [ 20 ], caused by population growth, accelerated urbanization, intensified agriculture, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation, especially in developing countries (e.g., [ 21 ]).…”