News media impacts on public understanding and attitude about environmental issues

Background/Question/Methods Traditional news media (broadcast television, newspapers, radio, and news magazines) are key sources of science and environmental information for the public. Yet, little is known about how news providers perceive environmental issues or how news stories influence public understanding of, interest in, and attitude about the environment. Using existing media, science, and social science literature, we examined the media's role in the societal debate of environmental issues and assessed its learning potential to inform and educate the public. Results/Conclusions We found that the principles of “news value” and “journalistic balance” along with reporters' sources and science literacy drive coverage, depth, framing and accuracy of environmental and science stories. Less is known about how these in turn impact audiences. Some studies report improved public understanding of science and environment issues, while others cite only changes in awareness and even reinforcement of common misconceptions. Research does indicate that how the media cover a story and how the collective coverage frames an issue influence audiences' perception. What an audience sees, hears and reads is also impacted by their attitudes, beliefs, prior knowledge and background (including gender, age, education, and socioeconomic status). Together, these form cognitive and affective filters for selecting and trusting sources of information. We conclude our review with the call for a better understanding of how environmental news stories impact free-choice (self-motivated) learners including comparing different audience types (e.g., general and specialty) and media types (e.g., local, national and international outlets); examining the evolution of stories over time; exploring the role of new media (including “citizen journalism”); and creating alternative ways to measure adult learning from the media.