Study - Mainstream Media Coverage Of Environmental Issues Basically Sucks

[hatrack]

On Jan. 31, the non-profit organization Project for Improved Environmental Coverage released a report detailing how the media is handling coverage of the issues affecting the environment. Their goal centered on establishing where environmental coverage ranks among news headlines both nationally and locally, along with how concerned the American population is with such coverage and how it can be improved.

Headed by Tyson Miller and Todd Pollak, PIEC’s data was gathered by the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism over a 17-month period spanning from early 2011 to 2012. The study found that only 1.2 percent of news headlines in the United States was represented by environmental coverage.

“For most adults, most folks who are outside of school, the news media is the primary source for environmental information,” says Miller. “Certainly in this day and age with differentiated news, they can go get it in different places, but so many people still sort of consume mainstream news through varying platforms. That’s why we kind of feel as though the mainstream news media has a moral imperative to do all they can to help improve environmental literacy through the lens and framework of the whole concept of constructive journalism.”

According to the study’s findings, in lieu of environmental coverage most news organizations, on average, prioritize entertainment and crime headlines. Entertainment headlines normally appeared three times more than environmental headlines. Crime headlines, although considered a local issue, were given a prioritized ratio of 69-to-1 in national morning network news programs and 9-to-1 on cable news.

EDIT

http://www.indianalivinggreen.com/study-mainstream-media-coverage-of-environment-pretty-much-sucks/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. MSM coverage of any vital information sucks

they are real good with police chases, tho.

sound bites and thoughtful detailed information are mutually exclusive for MSM, considering that SIX people own almost all of the media in this country, and have decided what the majority of people get to see and hear.

Thank god for Democracy Now.

[gtar100]

2. They are too busy writing everything down what conservative think tanks are telling them to write.

Listening to top of the hour news on radio stations has become a risk to healthy brain cells. It's just crap. They feed their listeners bullshit while real stories go unreported or misrepresented by idiots with an agenda. No real journalism exists in the "mainstream" media.