A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers
News organizations and journalists are important and influential actors in environmental politics. Their reporting on social and environmental issues often follows issue-attention cycles (IACs) that emphasize drama and problematization to maintain public interest. This study examined nearly 13 years...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414 2024-09-15T18:24:12+00:00 A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers Reamer, Marcus Macdonald, Catherine Wester, Julia Fielding, Russell Shriver-Rice, Meryl 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Communication volume 9 ISSN 2297-900X journal-article 2024 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414 2024-08-27T04:04:55Z News organizations and journalists are important and influential actors in environmental politics. Their reporting on social and environmental issues often follows issue-attention cycles (IACs) that emphasize drama and problematization to maintain public interest. This study examined nearly 13 years of news coverage to understand the media discourse about the Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW) and its conservation. Content analysis and critical discourse analysis were used to analyze 356 texts published in six large US newspapers between January 1, 2010 and March 15, 2023. NARW conservation and management received increased public attention and an IAC began in 2017 after an Unusual Mortality Event began, with 75 percent of the sampled articles ( n = 267) published from 2017 on. The Boston Globe published a majority of the sampled texts ( n = 209) and Globe reporter David Abel was the most prolific journalist with 50 bylines. The coverage featured six themes representing threats to the species, science and technological development, and tourism, local lifestyle, and culture. The most common topic was that of American lobster fishing gear and whale entanglements ( n = 162, 45.5%). In that discourse journalists emphasized the political ecology of NARW conservation, focusing on disagreements between whale experts and advocates and commercial lobster fishermen and their allies as they sought to influence decision making by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Journalists presented the issue through a conflict frame and each group used distinct discursive strategies in an attempt to shape the discourse and public opinion related to new or stricter regulations for the commercial lobster fishery designed to reduce the risk of entanglement for NARWs. Findings suggest that this IAC related to NARW science and conservation has already moved through at least three of five key stages and will inevitably lose public interest, which has important implications for future communication and advocacy related ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Communication 9 |
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News organizations and journalists are important and influential actors in environmental politics. Their reporting on social and environmental issues often follows issue-attention cycles (IACs) that emphasize drama and problematization to maintain public interest. This study examined nearly 13 years of news coverage to understand the media discourse about the Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW) and its conservation. Content analysis and critical discourse analysis were used to analyze 356 texts published in six large US newspapers between January 1, 2010 and March 15, 2023. NARW conservation and management received increased public attention and an IAC began in 2017 after an Unusual Mortality Event began, with 75 percent of the sampled articles ( n = 267) published from 2017 on. The Boston Globe published a majority of the sampled texts ( n = 209) and Globe reporter David Abel was the most prolific journalist with 50 bylines. The coverage featured six themes representing threats to the species, science and technological development, and tourism, local lifestyle, and culture. The most common topic was that of American lobster fishing gear and whale entanglements ( n = 162, 45.5%). In that discourse journalists emphasized the political ecology of NARW conservation, focusing on disagreements between whale experts and advocates and commercial lobster fishermen and their allies as they sought to influence decision making by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Journalists presented the issue through a conflict frame and each group used distinct discursive strategies in an attempt to shape the discourse and public opinion related to new or stricter regulations for the commercial lobster fishery designed to reduce the risk of entanglement for NARWs. Findings suggest that this IAC related to NARW science and conservation has already moved through at least three of five key stages and will inevitably lose public interest, which has important implications for future communication and advocacy related ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reamer, Marcus Macdonald, Catherine Wester, Julia Fielding, Russell Shriver-Rice, Meryl |
spellingShingle |
Reamer, Marcus Macdonald, Catherine Wester, Julia Fielding, Russell Shriver-Rice, Meryl A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers |
author_facet |
Reamer, Marcus Macdonald, Catherine Wester, Julia Fielding, Russell Shriver-Rice, Meryl |
author_sort |
Reamer, Marcus |
title |
A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers |
title_short |
A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers |
title_full |
A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers |
title_fullStr |
A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers |
title_full_unstemmed |
A “war” over lobster and whales: The issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six US newspapers |
title_sort |
“war” over lobster and whales: the issue-attention cycle, media discourse, and political ecology of right whale science and conservation in six us newspapers |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414/full |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
op_source |
Frontiers in Communication volume 9 ISSN 2297-900X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1417414 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Communication |
container_volume |
9 |
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1810464512795475968 |