Who Benefit from What Media? Examining Knowledge Gap Hypothesis on Environmental Knowledge In China

Abstract

Environmental knowledge inequality is a barrier to address environmental issues. This study explores the role of media use in environmental knowledge gap in China, and the empirical evidence is analyzed by using the secondary data from Chinese General Social Survey. OLS regression and heterogeneity analysis revealed that internet use increases environmental knowledge gap; radio use reduces environmental knowledge gap between people with higher and lower levels of education. Newspaper and television use have limited influence on environmental knowledge acquisition. However, newspapers and television are more beneficial for people with lower levels of education, but not those with higher levels.

Relacionando la sostenibilidad y la transformación digital: la adopción de tecnologías de la información para la ecoalfabetización

“…For example, Ostrow Michel and Zwickle (2021) demonstrated that the more students use social media, the higher their environmental knowledge. Also, Ai et al (2021) show that informal sources of learning (e.g. web 2.0) have a stronger impact on an individual's environmental knowledge than traditional and formal ones (television, journals, etc.).…”