Environmental Journalism

In the last 50 years, awareness of human impact on our planet has grown to such an extent that environmental debates now have a permanent place in public discourse. In order for publics to educate themselves on the environment, and for decision makers to make informed policy choices, the media must provide them with timely and accurate information. This nexus between journalism, activism, science, publics, and politics is therefore an essential area for study. It is this often controversial and contested area that we will examine in-depth in this text.

This course introduces both crucial theories underpinning media and the environment, as well as the practice of environmental journalism. As you work through this text, you will deepen your knowledge of environmental communication both as a media consumer and a media practitioner. By the end of the course you will have gained a strong theoretical base as a foundation for your practical skills in environmental journalism, and you will have studied numerous examples and mini-case studies of communicating on the environment. You will also have produced some environmental journalism of your own.