Environment Reporters in the 21st Century

Environment Reporters in the 21st Century is the story of a relatively new journalistic beat, environmental reporting. This book explores the development of the environmental beat as a specialty during the last thirty years. It also discusses broader trends within American journalism resulting from technological changes that challenge traditional mediums, especially newspapers and magazines.

The book is divided into three parts. The first reviews the literature and explains the methodology. The second describes the results of the authors' research. The third provides in-depth accounts of environment reporters at work. A final chapter puts the research in historical perspective, viewing it in terms of the economic decline of the newspaper business and of local television news.

Journalists mediate a constant struggle among thousands of environmental activists, corporate public relations people, government officials, and scientists to shape environmental reporting. This volume tells the story of environmental reporting imaginatively and innovatively.

Foreword by Bud Ward

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part I: Environment Reporting

1. The Environment Beat
2. Studying Specialized Environment Reporters

Part II: The Environment Reporters of the 21st Century

3. The Environment Reporters
4. The Work Environment
5. Covering the Environment
6. Wrestling with Objectivity and Fairness

Part III: The Craft: Telling the Environment Story

7. On the Beat: Environment Reporters at Work
8. Environment Reporters in a Time of Change

Appendix A: The Survey
Appendix B: Sources Used by Environment Reporters
Appendix C: Three Factors in Environmental Reporter Analysis: Objective/Fair Reporters, Workplace Critics, and Advocates/Civic Journalists

Index