Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic
Mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic is a significant concern. Some traditional food sources are contaminated by mercury and pose a health risk to local residents. Media can affect public awareness and opinions of environmental health risks. Therefore, it is important to understand how the r...
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2019
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3353 https://doaj.org/article/0132555ce990412989f8273667f71bb0 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:0132555ce990412989f8273667f71bb0 2023-05-15T14:35:30+02:00 Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic Amanda D. Boyd Michelle L. Fredrickson Chris M. Furgal 2019-10-01 https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3353 https://doaj.org/article/0132555ce990412989f8273667f71bb0 en eng Norwegian Polar Institute 1751-8369 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3353 https://doaj.org/article/0132555ce990412989f8273667f71bb0 undefined Polar Research, Vol 38, Iss 0, Pp 1-14 (2019) Arctic risk communication perceptions contaminant Indigenous health traditional foods envir manag Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2019 fttriple https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3353 2023-01-22T17:32:56Z Mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic is a significant concern. Some traditional food sources are contaminated by mercury and pose a health risk to local residents. Media can affect public awareness and opinions of environmental health risks. Therefore, it is important to understand how the risks associated with contaminants are communicated through the media. To better understand how the issue of mercury contamination in the Arctic has been presented in the media, a content analysis was conducted across 14 newspapers in the Canadian North and South. We examined how news sources presented the health risks of mercury in the Arctic, how mercury was defined, if pathways for self-efficacy (i.e., how a person can reduce his or her exposure to a hazard) were provided and who was quoted as an information source. Results demonstrate that few Indigenous people were cited as information sources, articles often failed to describe mercury to the reader and many did not provide direction to support self-efficacy. This study provides insight into how newspapers have communicated about mercury in the Canadian Arctic and suggests specific ways that this communication can be improved. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Polar Research Unknown Arctic Polar Research 38 0 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic risk communication perceptions contaminant Indigenous health traditional foods envir manag |
spellingShingle |
Arctic risk communication perceptions contaminant Indigenous health traditional foods envir manag Amanda D. Boyd Michelle L. Fredrickson Chris M. Furgal Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic |
topic_facet |
Arctic risk communication perceptions contaminant Indigenous health traditional foods envir manag |
description |
Mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic is a significant concern. Some traditional food sources are contaminated by mercury and pose a health risk to local residents. Media can affect public awareness and opinions of environmental health risks. Therefore, it is important to understand how the risks associated with contaminants are communicated through the media. To better understand how the issue of mercury contamination in the Arctic has been presented in the media, a content analysis was conducted across 14 newspapers in the Canadian North and South. We examined how news sources presented the health risks of mercury in the Arctic, how mercury was defined, if pathways for self-efficacy (i.e., how a person can reduce his or her exposure to a hazard) were provided and who was quoted as an information source. Results demonstrate that few Indigenous people were cited as information sources, articles often failed to describe mercury to the reader and many did not provide direction to support self-efficacy. This study provides insight into how newspapers have communicated about mercury in the Canadian Arctic and suggests specific ways that this communication can be improved. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Amanda D. Boyd Michelle L. Fredrickson Chris M. Furgal |
author_facet |
Amanda D. Boyd Michelle L. Fredrickson Chris M. Furgal |
author_sort |
Amanda D. Boyd |
title |
Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic |
title_short |
Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic |
title_full |
Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Media coverage of mercury contamination in the Canadian Arctic |
title_sort |
media coverage of mercury contamination in the canadian arctic |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3353 https://doaj.org/article/0132555ce990412989f8273667f71bb0 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Polar Research |
genre_facet |
Arctic Polar Research |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 38, Iss 0, Pp 1-14 (2019) |
op_relation |
1751-8369 doi:10.33265/polar.v38.3353 https://doaj.org/article/0132555ce990412989f8273667f71bb0 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3353 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
0 |
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1766308315612053504 |