Soft journalism, politics and environmental risk
An Australian story
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7478779 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Libby Lester (0000-0003-1046-2412, University of Tasmania, corresponding author), Brett Hutchins (0000-0002-8505-9620, Monash University) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 654-667 |
| Publication date | 2011-10-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journalism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1464884911421706 |
| OpenAlex | W1996206441 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 11 |
Complex environmental science issues are regularly reported by the news media in highly personalized and symbolic terms in order to make the consequences of environmental degradation and risk comprehensible to the public. This article presents a case study showing how the tension between political statements, human-interest narratives and scientific credibility in this style of reporting can undercut citizen-led claims about environmental risk factors. This tension creates discursive openings that government and industry use to deny the existence of these factors or contest their consequences. The evidence presented in support of this argument relates to episodes of Australian Story, a popular ‘soft journalism’ programme, shown on the national public service broadcaster during the 2010 Tasmanian state election campaign. The timing and content of this programme produced extensive debate across multiple mediums about environmental risks, providing insight into the relationship between politics, journalism and the contested status of environmental science knowledge claims in the news
Argument (complex analysis · CONTEST · Credibility · Government (linguistics · Journalism · Media studies · Narrative · News media · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public service · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Media Studies and Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Law
Once Upon a Genome
The long-term evolution of news media in defining socio-ecological conflict
The Many Modalities of Social Networking
Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology
What’s in my mince? Reader responses to news coverage about novel plant-based protein foods
Innocent narratives
Helping Australia Grow’
Theorizing the enactment of mediatized environmental conflict
The power of the unseen
Contesting the climate breakdown
Transnational Publics and Environmental Conflict in the Asian Century
Risk Society
The Experience of Middle Australia
TV news, lay voices and the visualisation of environmental risks
The Politics of Climate Change
Ordinary People and the Media
Political communication and ‘media system’
Environmental protest and tap-dancing with the media in the information age
Cultural chaos
Ordinary Television
Public culture, independent online news and the Tasmanian Times
Personalizing current affairs without becoming tabloid
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,79 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |