The Importance Of Environmental Journalism

Nonetheless, given journalism is itself a product of culture, it is not solely responsible for these cultural misrepresentations. Instead, systemic financial, corporate, and governmental factors influence journalistic frameworks, thereby making issues circular, and inherently difficult to overcome. This is especially evident in environmental media coverage. Bacon and Nash (2012, p.250) determine media often, “…take a structural position that is tightly aligned with the interests of the coal industry in the economic field.” Lester (2010, p.59) corroborates, remarking, “The producers of news…are aligned with society’s economically powerful.” Lester (2010, p.60) elaborates, discerning this alignment means, “…corporate ownership of the media clearly influences environmental reporting.” Clearly, corporate interests impede objective environmental coverage. Yet, worryingly, Bacon and Pavey (2010, p.4) state this issue is not exclusive to environmental journalism, …show more content…
Ross (2010, p.89) exemplifies this, commenting, “…much of what we see, hear, and read about in mainstream news is a result of a newsroom culture which continuously reproduces itself.” Thus, circular newsroom cultures cannot be wholly representative of broader cultures, which constantly update, progress, and fluctuate. Ultimately, to better reflect cultural attitudes, Ross (2010, p.120) asserts a fundamental restructuring of journalistic frameworks is necessary, stating, “…what is required is a significant cultural shift in the industry as a whole.” In doing so, extricating, or at least lessening, corporate influences would be ideal. Clearly, there is a disparity between newsroom cultures and constantly fluctuating modern cultures, leading to fundamental and damaging cultural