Environmental risks and the media

Stuart Allan, Barbara Adam, Cynthia Carter

Routledge, 2000 - Nature - 278 pages

Environmental Risks and the Mediaexplores the ways in which environmental risks, threats and hazards are represented, transformed and contested by the media. At a time when popular conceptions of the environment as a stable, "natural" world with which humanity interferes are becoming increasingly contested, the media's methods of encouraging audiences to think about environmental risks--from the "mad cow" crisis to global warming--are becoming more and more controversial. Examining large-scale disasters as well as "everyday" hazards, the contributors consider the tensions between entertainment and information in media coverage of the environment. The issues explored include: how the media frame "expert," "counter-expert" and "lay public" definitions of environmental risk; the role played by environmental pressure groups like Greenpeace in shaping media coverage; and the media's emphasis on spectacular events at the expense of issue-sensitive reporting.

About the author

Stuart Allan lectures in media and cultural studies at the University of Glamorgan.

Founding editor of "Time and Society", Barbara Adam teaches social theory and women's studies at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

Cynthia Carter is Lecturer in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, UK. Her previous books include "Violence and the Media " (Open University Press, 2003), " Environmental Risks and the Media " (2000) and " News, Gender and Power " (1998). She is co-editor of the journal " Feminist Media Studies ".

Linda Steiner is Associate Professor in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA. She is editor of " Critical Studies in Media Communication ", serves on six journal editorial boards, and has written 30 journal articles and book chapters on feminist media, mediaethics, and journalism history. She is co-author of the forthcoming book "The History of Women in Journalism in the US and UK " (2994).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Environmental risks and the media
• Authors: Stuart Allan, Barbara Adam, Cynthia Carter
• Editors: Stuart Allan, Barbara Adam, Cynthia Carter
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Routledge, 2000
• ISBN: 0415214467, 9780415214469
• Length: 278 pages
• Subjects: Environmental health; Environmental health - Press coverage; Environmental health/ Press coverage; Environmental protection; Environmental protection - Press coverage; Environmental protection/ Press coverage; Mass media and the environment; Natural disasters; Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection; Science / Environmental Science; Science / Life Sciences / Ecology; Social Science / Media Studies; Technology & Engineering / Environmental / General