"Climate change poses a challenge to countries across the world, with news media being an important source of information on the issue. To understand how and how much news media cover climate change, this study compares coverage in ten countries from the Global North and the Global South between 200
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6 and 2018 (N = 71,674). Based on a panel analysis, we illustrate that news media attention varies across countries and is often associated with political, scientific, and (partly) societal focusing events. Based on an automated content analysis, we also find that news media do not only cover ecological changes or climate science, but that they focus predominantly on the societal dimension of climate change: They emphasize how humans are aware of, affected by, battle, or cause climate change. Overall, the study illustrates important differences between the Global North and the Global South. While countries from the Global North cover climate change more frequently, countries from the Global South focus more on its challenges and implications for society at large, i.e., the societal dimension of climate change." (Abstract)
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"A garment spends 2.2 years on average in a UK wardrobe. Fashion is among the biggest polluters, yet the media still promote throwaway fast fashion. The growing fashion public relations industry encourages and enables this media coverage. This policy brief identifies patterns in the way journalists
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and influencers cover fashion which contribute to unsustainable buying behaviours. Research recommends practical steps to improve media coverage to make consumption sustainable, by changing consumers’ understanding and reducing the pressure on them to buy ‘fast’ satisfaction. This brief is based on the original analysis of 1,000+ media artefacts in the UK – from magazines to newspapers, gossip weeklies to Instagram influencers." (Key messages)
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"As connected platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok rise in popular use, communication strategies are forced to grow more condensed and to be transmitted primarily across digital screens. Online short-form video has consequently become a primary format for environmental communication, thou
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gh research on digital communication remains largely limited to frame analysis and discussions of print and still images. Filling a need in current scholarship on environmental media and aiming to further bridge humanities and communication research, this article offers a model for assessing environmentally themed short-form videos that complements communication studies’ focus on messaging rhetoric with humanities-based film and visual culture analytic tools for assessing the connotative aspect of aesthetic and narrative elements. Intending to offer an applicable framework for environmental messengers, we develop a genre system of short-form videos along cognitive and emotional axes that can be quantitatively identified according to formal practices, demonstrated through an examination of four environmental short-form videos." (Abstract)
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"Through a combination of scientific and community activity, our environment is increasingly registered and documented as data. Given the expanding breadth of this digital domain, it is crucial that scholars consider the problems it presents as well as its affirmative potential. This article, arisin
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g from collaboration between a practitioner and theorist in digital design and a film and screen scholar with expertise in documentary and environmental studies, critically examines biodiversity data through an ecocritical reading of public-facing databases, citizen science platforms and data visualizations. We examine the 'Atlas of Living Australia'; 'Canberra Nature Map'; the City of Melbourne’s 'Insects'; and the experimental visualization 'Local Kin'. Integrating perspectives from screen studies, design and the environmental humanities, including multispecies studies approaches in anthropology, we examine how digital representations reflect the way biodiversity data is produced and structured. Critically analysing design choices – what is shown, and how it is shown – we argue that biodiversity data on-screen provides specific affordances: allowing, encouraging or discouraging certain insights and possibilities that condition our knowledge of and engagement with living things. An interdisciplinary approach allows us to ask new questions about how users might experience multispecies worlds in digital form, and how biodiversity data might convey the complexities of an entangled biosphere, amplifying understanding, connection and attention amongst interested publics. We examine the visual rhetorics of digital biodiversity in order to better understand how these forms operate as environmental media: designed representations of the living world." (Abstract)
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"Most effective agriculture, environment and natural resource management projects tend to be those in which community members, development practitioners or agriculture experts jointly identify research or development parameters and participate in the decision-making process. In these projects, commu
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nity engagement, consultation and participation occur from the very beginning and continue through the arc of the project. Here, the research and development process itself generates a situation of empowerment in which participants transform their view of reality enabling them to take effective action. This chapter delves deeper into participatory development communication, a branch of the development communication tree that takes a stand on empowerment as the key to sustainable development. The chapter reviews conceptual models associated with participatory communication, describes cases related to agriculture and natural resource management where the approach has been used to address challenges encountered by local communities and offers some thoughts for the future." (Abstract)
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"The Textbook seeks for an innovative approach to Sustainability Communication as transdisciplinary area of research. Following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are intended to transform the world as it is known, we seek for a multidisciplinary discussion of the role communica
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tion plays in realizing these goals. With complementing theoretical approaches and concepts, the book offers various perspectives on communication practices and strategies on an individual, organizational, institutional, as well as public level that contribute, enable (or hinder) sustainable development. Presented case studies show methodological as well as issue specific challenges in sustainability communication. Therefore, the book introduces and promotes innovative methods for this specific area of research." (Publisher description)
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"Peace journalism is a concept conventionally applied to reporting on violent conflict. In recent years, however, there has been increasing consideration of the possible links with other crucial subjects such as climate change and COVID-19 reporting. To date, such an extension of peace journalism ha
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s not yet been comprehensively considered in Australian scholarship on and about the Pacific Island region. This seeming lack of widespread engagement in the discussions about relevance and applicability of peace journalism in the region is part of the rationale for this article. The authors hope this article can inspire debate about the chosen approaches of Australian-based media scholars researching, writing and teaching about media in the Pacific." (Abstract)
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"Generally, Dominicans have access to the information that they need to make informed decisions, especially as it relates to disaster preparation and response. Despite having timely access to disaster-related information, however, some persons continue to act complacent and either fail or refuse to
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prepare for impending disasters." (Back cover)
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"An online survey was conducted in which participants were exposed to one of 16 mock emergency warnings about either a bushfire or a riverine flood and were then asked a series of questions relating to their demographic characteristics, message comprehension and effectiveness, threat appraisal, copi
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ng appraisal, protection motivation and maladaptive coping behaviour. Mock emergency warnings were developed using existing end-user emergency warnings to improve realism and maximise the usefulness of the findings, as well as building on previous QUT-conducted BNHCRC research (see Greer et al., 2019). A total of 2,482 Australians living across all states and territories were recruited to participate in the research. Participants were recruited by the Market Research firm Dynata. Approximately 150 participants responded to each of the 16 stimuli. Overall, the research results show that adding colours and/or icons to the Evacuate Now (Bushfire) message creates improvements, albeit small ones, in message comprehension, effectiveness, perceived probability and perceived self-efficacy. The other three messages showed no improvement (or loss) in message comprehension, effectiveness, threat appraisal, or coping appraisal as a result of adding colours and/or icons." (Abstract)
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"This article reflects experiences and results from an environmental education and communication strategy (EECS) as part of a Lao-German development project of Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) over a 10-year period from 2011 to 2021. The article is divided into four parts. First
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, an overview of the project context and the media landscape in Laos is provided. Next, the conceptual framework of the communication strategy at the GIZ policy and project management level is presented. Subsequently, major features of the wide variety of environmental education and communication media productions and educational materials are highlighted. Another chapter summarizes the results of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) surveys related to environmental awareness. Finally, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and impact assessment results conclude lessons that can be learned from the project’s communication strategy." (Abstract)
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"The two objectives that this compilation set for itself were documenting community radio best practices and creating a robust sector through knowledge sharing and collaborative learning. The 96 stories [from Bangladesh, India and Nepal] included in the compilation capture the various ways in which
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the diverse sector is identifying, prioritizing, and addressing concerns in the community’s vis-a-vis the SDGs. These stories describe the creative ways in which content has been developed by using the folk format, engaging the community through discussions, games, and cultural events, and innovative outreach activities. Further, they also highlight collaborations with local institutions and civic administrations and the way in which CRS’ core strengths like youth power especially in educational institutions are harnessed to provide inclusive community programming that truly provides a voice to the voiceless. Finally, the stories also highlight how social media and internet have been co-opted for a wider and on-demand access. The stories embody within them elements worthy of replication and emulation. Several community radio stations are already networking and sharing content and ideas. If these stories are also shared across content aggregation platforms and through the community radio networks, they could reach much wider audiences and initiate new conversations and exchange of ideas building a robust community of practice." (Way forward, page 34)
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"A number of issues have been raised in this report that will help the media to improve on service delivery in disaster-related issues and to be prepared in disaster management. Not only the media has vowed to improve but also government institutions, humanitarian response organizations and media st
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akeholders have also pledged to play a part in supporting the media to carry out its role efectively in terms of accurate and timely reporting. Some of the important points raised in the consultation process were: National and district structures that are set by both government and nongovernment organizations have to involve the media in the planning, processing and implementing of national mechanisms that would help the media in carrying out their duties; the media need to be well-equipped with training and resources that would strengthen their professional capacity; there has to be a good rapport between the media and all government and non-government entities for efcient and efective reporting; there should be proper planning in disaster management amongst all stakeholders involved in this process to enhance coordination at all angles." (Conclusion, page 27)
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"In African Ecomedia, Cajetan Iheka examines the ecological footprint of media in Africa alongside the representation of environmental issues in visual culture. Iheka shows how, through visual media such as film, photography, and sculpture, African artists deliver a unique perspective on the socioec
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ological costs of media production, from mineral and oil extraction to the politics of animal conservation. Among other works, he examines Pieter Hugo's photography of electronic waste recycling in Ghana and Idrissou Mora-Kpai's documentary on the deleterious consequences of uranium mining in Niger. These works highlight not only the exploitation of African workers and the vast scope of environmental degradation but also the resourcefulness and creativity of African media makers. They point to the unsustainability of current practices while acknowledging our planet's finite natural resources. In foregrounding Africa's centrality to the production and disposal of media technology, Iheka shows the important place visual media has in raising awareness of and documenting ecological disaster even as it remains complicit in it." (Publisher description)
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