Environmental Topics Reported by Traditional Media - Coursework Example

The Fox News and other conservative media news influence peoples' perceptions of the environment through the stories they air. The traditional media tend to support the shared ideologies that the population may understand and hence is a way of creating rapport. The fox news, therefore, airs the environmental topics that appear to disapprove of climate change as it is a way of relating to viewers a concept that the ecological researchers fail to do. The media, therefore, influence the thoughts by making the viewers understand issues they cannot see directly such as global warming.  The press is also able to influence what we think about thus affecting our views. The more coverage a specific topic gets, the more significant the influence whether positive or negative to the viewer. The news has influenced me positively in understanding the environment. For example, the continuous airing of global warming effects by the CNN and BBC has affected how I view the destruction of forest for personal gains. It has also educated me on alternative use of renewable resources and even disposal of goods such as electronics. Through the media, environmentally friendly concepts such as walking or cycling to walk have been forged.

In your own words, describe what Corbett means by "the environmental beat." How does the news media treat environmental news stories?

The environmental beat refers to specialized reporting on various issues that affect the environment. The environment beat affect all other news beats such as climate change, health, policy making, international relations, economy, transportation and energy. The environmental stories are often sensitive and complicated. Due to their nature of affecting issues, they are usually an uncomfortable topic to venture for most news media. The issues are also broad and often difficult to classify into one category. The stories, therefore, require one or more journalist to cover and in some cases specialist for specific topics such as health. Environment stories are also seen as boring with many people failing to grasp the concepts. Therefore other news beats such as celebrity scandals are given priority. The trend of reporting stories have changed with routine news from entities seeking coverage getting priority over important environmentally educating stories. The environmental stories have also faced challenges such as a decline in airtime and decreasing number of environmental reporters. The way of telling stories has also changed with the environment stories becoming more detailed and more prolonged. The environmental groups looking to air a story are sometimes at a disadvantage with other news beats such as the increase in agricultural land and industries contradicting each other and the latter given more priority.

What are some factors that contribute to the U.S. low ranking on the Greendex analysis?

The National Geographic Society's annual Greendex analysis and monitors the consumer behaviour. The study is on four variables; housing, transportation, food consumption and goods. Several factors contributed to the low ranking in the U.S. with three out of the four variables scoring the lowest. The Americans scored last in housing due to their large residential homes. The houses also have constant home heating and air conditioning. In transportation, they rarer use public transport, walk or bike to work. The Americans also own more cars, and most individuals use cars alone in most instances. The consumers in the U.S. have a higher volume of usage of bottled water. Americans are also likely to buy products that are not environmentally friendly and have excessive packaging. They also have a high number of televisions with 96 percent reporting to at least having one TV. There are also a high number of computers, washing and dish machines.