Environmental Communication
JMSC6045
Journalism and Media Studies Centre
The University of Hong Kong
Fall, 2012
Instructor:
Miklos Sukosd
Office: 106 Eliot Hall
Office hours: Wednesday 1:00-3:00 PM, Thursday 1:00-3:00 PM
Email: sukosd@hku.hk
Phone: 2241 5071
Class time and venues:
Thursday 9:30-12:25 (101 Eliot Hall)
Course description
The goal of this course is to offer an introduction to environmental communication and a
critical analysis of how environmental issues are presented by the media. By selecting a small
number of environmental problems (e.g., global warming, mass extermination of species,
sweet water shortage, or overfishing), we explore how professional and citizen journalists,
and documentary filmmakers and their sources (including scientists, governments, NGOs and
industries) frame issues and suggest solutions. We look at critical issues faced by
environmental journalists’ and stakeholders’ communication strategies and discourses, and
address issues related to sustainability and consumption in the media. We also explore how
environmental issues are represented in fiction movies. Finally we address issues related to
information society and sustainability: how social media are used for environmental
journalism and activism, and how the growing energy needs of the internet and the mounting
e-waste crisis could be tackled.
Key issues include objectivity, advocacy and crowdsourcing in environmental journalism;
how to present complex scientific questions in a way that is understandable for the general
public; the concepts of risk and risk communication. Course participants will also acquire an
understanding of major environmental trends, and an introduction to concepts of political
ecology, environmental discourses and sustainability.
Every week, we have a conceptual discussion in the first class. It is followed in the second
class by an analysis of cases of environmental media coverage, including news broadcasts,
NGO action footage, articles, social media and documentaries. We host guest speakers and
plan for a site visit. The class website functions as an e-learning platform with media
materials (especially videos).
The course also features experiential learning. Students write articles about environmentalist
events at HKU (including distinguished speakers at HKU’s environmental public seminar
series, green student groups, and environmental movie screenings). These articles will be
published on the HKU sustainability website. We also collaborate with the “Citizen Map”
environmental platform of the South China Morning Post http://citizenmap.scmp.com Final
projects explore selected environmental campaigns and how they are covered in the media.
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Course topics, readings and case studies
1. The environmental performance of media – an introduction
Can we formulate a theory of journalism and media that takes ecology into account? Why
should we care? What are the conceptual foundations of such a theory? How could such a
theory develop a vision and indicators of journalism/media performance? How could an
environmental agenda for professional and citizen journalism as well as social media be
developed in a comprehensive way? How can the concept of “public interest” that lies at the
heart of journalism, be “ecologized” and infused with journalistic concepts related to
sustainability?
Case study:
“HKU and sustainability”
Guest speaker: Ann Kildahl, Sustainability Manager of HKU.
Ann is in charge of all sustainability issues (like energy saving, waste reduction/recycling,
renewable energy use, sustainability features of new buildings) at our University. She will
introduce ‘greening the university’ projects at HKU, in Hong Kong and the world. We will
also discuss our collaboration during the semester.
Reading:
Please review the HKU Sustainability website http://www.sustainability.hku.hk/
Read the HKU Sustainability Goals and Policy:
http://www.sustainability.hku.hk/sustainable-hku/sustainability-goals-and-policy
and HKU Sustainability Reports: http://www.sustainability.hku.hk/report-2010/
2. Environmental problems in the 21st century
What are the most pressing environmental problems today? The portrayal of environmental
issues in the media: global warming, soil, water and air pollution, the mass extinction of
species, water scarcity, overfishing. How can the media shape perceptions, public opinion
and impact government policy on the environment? The changing issues in environmental
journalism and the visibility of environmental problems in the media. How can different
environmental problems be represented in the media? Communication principles in the
coverage of environmental issues: media framing, agenda setting, campaigns,
newsworthiness, news construction, and media events. How can journalists use scientific
evidence; risk analysis; and emotional framing? And how can they show what audiences can
DO?
Reading:
Brown, Lester R. 2000. Challenges of the New Century. In: State of the World 2000: A
Worldwatch Institute Report. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, pp. 3-21.
Case studies:
“Was Brown right?” In 2000, Lester Brown made forecasts for the 21st century about the
most critical environmental issues. What can we say a decade later—were his forecasts
exact? Or perhaps the situation is better or worse than he forecasted?
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Based on independent research, write short pieces on the state of affairs a decade later. Use
statistical data as evidence; you may also refer to policy issues, i.e., policies countering (or
not countering) the environmental trends. We distibute topics in class.
Length: up to 2 pages (double space)
Deadline for submission: September 12, Wednesday noon.
I will assemble all pieces into one document and upload so we can discuss them in class.
3. Basic concepts in political ecology
Environmental challenges in the 21st century. The tragedy of commons; the meanings of
sustainability; ecological footprint; environmental justice; and the rights of future generations.
Readings:
Hardin, Garrett. 1996. The Tragedy of the Commons. In: Sauer, P. and M. Livingston (eds.),
Environmental Economics and Policy: Selected Classical Readings. Prague-Minneapolis, pp.
62-75.
Dryzek, John S. 2005. The politics of the earth: environmental discourses. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, pp. 145-161 (chapter 7 on sustainable development).
Case studies:
Please suggest a link about a case, related to the issues above, that you consider important.
4. Environmental discourses in the media
Shades of green: sustainable development, ecological modernization, deep ecology,
ecological democracy, eco-feminism, “Green New Deal”. Environmental journalists’
strategies: objectivity, advocacy, and partisanship. Role play: students represent different
positions in a studio debate.
Readings:
Dryzek, John S. 2005. The politics of the earth: environmental discourses. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, pp. 162-227 (chapters 8, 9, 10 on ecological modernization, green
consciousness and green politics).
Hay, Peter. 2002. Main currents in western environmental thought. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, pp. 72-93 (on eco-feminism).
Optional:
Kollár, Eszter, Attila Fonyó, Miklós Sükösd. 2006. Discursive Strategies in GM Policy: A
Theoretical Assessment. In Clements, Belinda (ed.) Probing the Boundaries of
Environmental Justice and Global Citizenship. Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press.
Sukosd, Miklos. 2001. Democratization, Nationalism and Eco-Politics: The SlovakHungarian Conflict Over the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Dam System on the Danube. In:
Petzold-Bradley, Eileen et al. (eds.) 2002. Responding to Environmental Conflicts:
Implications for Theory and Practice. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic
Publishers, pp. 225-238.
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5. Media and the environment 1: news journalism and social media
Mainstream news on the environment on commercial television, the Internet and the press.
The emergence of environmental “beat” in the media. Environmental journalism: problems,
challenges and ethical issues. How do active users on Twitter, Facebook, etc. discuss
environmental politics, promote environmental causes, mobilize in campaigns? How do these
agendas and citizen journalism affect standard/can be utilized in institutional practices of
journalism?
Reading:
Neuzil, Mark. 2008. The Environment and the Press: From Adventure Writing to Advocacy.
Evanston: Northwestern University Press, pp. TBA.
Ma, Yolanda. 2011. How social media can help environmental journalism.
http://www.majinxin.com/2010/11/21/how-social-media-can-help-environmental-journalism/
Case studies:
- Citzen Map at South China Morning Post: http://citizenmap.scmp.com/
- Please suggest a link about a case you consider important in the area of environmental
journalism and social media.
6. Media and the environment 2: documentaries, nature films and journalism
How does the documentary genre engage the environment? Walt Disney from family nature
films to Disneynature. National Geographic from magazine to television channel; The
Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and PBS continue the tradition of nature film. Critical
documentaries: The Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (2006), The 11th Hour by Leonardo
DiCaprio (2007), Food, Inc. (2008), Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008), Fuel (2008),
Plastic Planet (2009), The End of the Line (2009), Wasteland (2010), The Age of the Stupid
(2009), The Warriors of Qiugang (2010).
Reading:
Evaluation of the social impact of The Inconvenient Truth and The End of the Line
http://britdoc.org/uploads/media_items/aninconvenienttruth-beyondtheboxoffice.original.pdf
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/404437/TheEndOfTheLine_EvaluationDocument.pdf
7. Media and the environment 3: fiction films and journalism
How do eco-disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow (2004), sci-fi adventure
blockbusters like Avatar (2009), or documentary/drama/animation hybrids like The Age of
Stupid (2009) represent environmental issues and shape public perceptions? What could be
the roles of cultural journalists and films critics in raising awareness and contribute to
environmental action?
Readings:
Ingram, David. 2000. Green screen: environmentalism and Hollywood cinema.
Exeter: University of Exeter Press, pp. 1-24 and 179-182.
Lu, Sheldon H and Jiayan Mi. 2009. Chinese Ecocinema in the Age of Environmental
Challenge. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 1-14.
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Optional:
DeLoughrey, Elizabeth and George B. Handley. 2011. Introduction: Towards an Aesthetics
of the Earth. In: DeLoughrey, Elizabeth and George B. Handley (eds.) Postcolonial Ecologies:
Literatures of the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-43.
8. Media and the environment 4: risk communication
Risk communication: principles and practices. Dimensions and measure of risk: oil, coal,
nuclear power, pollution issues, genetically modifies organisms, and related environmental
and health risks. Do we live in a “risk society” as suggested by Ulrich Beck?
Reading
Fischhoff, B., C. Hope and S.R. Watson.1990. Defining Risk. In: Th. S. Glickman and M.
Gough (eds.) Readings in risk. Washington, D.C: Resources for the Future, pp. 30-41.
Case study:
Different modes of Fukushima coverage.
Optional:
Beck, Ulrich. 2009. World at Risk. Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA: Polity.
Mythen, Gabe. 2004. Ulrich Beck: a critical introduction to the risk society. London;
Sterling, Va.: Pluto Press. .
9. Media and the environment 5: communication by of environmental NGOs
How do environmentalist or preservationist NGOs (non-governmental organizations like
Greenpeace, WWF) use the power of television, the press and the Internet to disseminate
information, create public awareness, and activate social and environmental change? What
kind of strategies journalists and editors could develop vis-à-vis NGOs as news sources?
What can celebrities and we do for the environment? A media agenda for the environment:
what are the missing environmental issues in the media? Best practices and effective
communications for environmental, economic and social sustainability in global and local
contexts.
Reading:
Bob, Clifford. 2005. The marketing of rebellion: insurgents, media, and international
activism. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-13, 178-195.
Optional:
DeLuca, Kevin Michael. 1999. Image Politics: the New Rhetoric of Environmental Activism.
New York: Guilford Press, pp. 119-145 (Chapter 6).
McAdam,D., McCarthy, J.D. and Zald, M.N. (eds.) 1996. Opportunities, mobilizing
structures and framing processes—toward a synthetic, comparative perspective on social
movements. In: McAdam, D., McCarthy, J.D. and Zald, M.N. (eds). Comparative
Perspectives on Social Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-20.
Case studies:
Please suggest a link about a case you consider important in the area of NGO communication.
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10.
Visit to a communal waste disposal site in Hong Kong (depending on access
permit)
Commercial advertisement, marketing, and consumer society as the causes of the waste
crisis. Mainstream commercial media and environmental issues. Corporate social
responsibility, greenwashing, and planned obsoleteness. Promoting environment causes for
profitable business (the case of Starbucks). The Fair Trade movement.
Reading:
Hobson, Kersty. 2001. Sustainable lifestyles: rethinking barriers and behavior change. In:
Cohen M. and J. Murphy (eds.), Exploring Sustainable Consumption: Environmental Policy
Discourses and the Social Sciences. Oxford: Pergamon, pp. 191-209.
Optional:
Beckmann, Suzanne C., Mette Morsing & Lucia A. Reisch. 2006. Strategic CSR
communication: An emerging field. In: S. C. Beckmann & M. Morsing (Eds.). CSR
[Corporate Social Responsibility] in Denmark. Kopenhagen: Copenhagen Business School
Press.
Cohen, Maurie. 2006. Sustainable consumption research as democratic expertise. Journal of
Consumer Policy, 29: 67-77.
Corbett, Julia B. 2006. Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand
Environmental Messages. Washington, D.C: Island Press.
Leal Filho, Walter (ed.) 2000. Communicating Sustainability. Environmental education,
communication and sustainability. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Oepen, Manfred and Winfried Hamacher. (eds.) 2000. Communicating the environment:
environmental communication for sustainable development. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,
pp. 39-81 (Part 3: Conceptual framework).
Zavestoski, Stephen. 2001. Environmental concern and anti-consumerism in the self-concept:
do they share the same basis? In: Cohen M. and J. Murphy (eds.), Exploring Sustainable
Consumption: Environmental Policy Discourses and the Social Sciences. Oxford: Pergamon,
pp. 173-189.
Case studies:
Please see videos on course site, and suggest a link about a case you consider important in the
area of “smart consumption”.
11. Discussion of final projects
See details below.
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12. Is information society sustainable?
How much energy is needed to maintain the Internet as an electronic infrastructure? How
large is the ecological footprint of sending billions of e-mails and tweets, doing Google
searches, posting on Facebook, or up/downloading AV materials on Youtube? How large is
the ecological footprint of making a movie? How many computers, mobile devices, and other
gadgets do we use in our lifetime? What happens to electronic waste? E-waste as an
environmental issue in China and Africa.
Reading
TBA
Case studies:
Please suggest a link about a case you consider important in the area of (un)sustainability of
information society and e-waste.
Recommended textbooks
Cox, Robert. 2010. Environmental communication and the public sphere. Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Sage.
Dryzek, John S. 2005. The politics of the earth: environmental discourses. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Dryzek, John S. and David Schlosberg (eds). 2005. Debating the earth: the environmental
politics reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Assessment
Teaching methods and requirements
Instruction proceeds through presentations, discussion, case studies and group projects that
require active participation. Learning is an interactive process, and it is only through active
class participation, motivated discussions of relevant cases, asking questions, and conducting
and presenting independent research that you get the best out of the class. You are invited to
be a participant rather than a spectator. Graduate students are viewed as mature colleagues
with independent judgement, relevant research skills and significant educational and
professional experience.
Class attendance is vital. If for some unavoidable reason you cannot come to a class, let me
know in advance and I will help you make up.
Course work and evaluation
1. Final research paper: 40 percent of grade
Students are requested to prepare an assignment (a research paper), and submit it after
the end of the semester. Research methods include online research, interviews, the use of
qualitative and quantitative data, and other methods. Suggested topic: the social impact of
environmental documentaries and the roles of journalists.
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The required style is academic writing with footnotes. The research paper should be about 8
pages/person long (12 font size, double space), excluding bibliography.
Deadline for submission: December 12, 2012.
The topic and approach of the research paper should be discussed in class and defined in a
paper proposal. The paper proposal helps to start work early and requires significant input
(advance bibliographic research and reading). The paper proposal should include a) a
definition of the topic and how it relates to course topics, b) a central research question, c)
explanation why the issue is relevant, d) definition methodology, e) a bibliography (including
online sources).
2. Presentation: 10 percent
In class 11, you are expected to make a class presentation about work in progress and
preliminary results. Research presentations should be 10-15 minutes long (with PowerPoint
or Prezi).
3. Movie journal: 20 percent
Students will be responsible for maintaining a film journal by watching environmental
documentaries and writing short memos about them (in not more than 1 page/film). Film
journals will address the following questions: How does the film relate to the environment?
What frames or concepts does it use or imply regarding the environment? Why are the film
and the issues important, why should we care? What would the films offer for audiences in
terms of individual or collective action? Any critical points? Movies include The
Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (2006), The 11th Hour by Leonardo DiCaprio (2007), Food,
Inc. (2008), Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008), Fuel (2008), Plastic Planet (2009), The
End of the Line (2009), No Impact Man (2009), The Age of the Stupid (2009). We will also
discuss these films in class.
4.. Class activity: 30 percent
When preparing for the class, each student is asked to think in advance about the relevance of
concepts for the media and environment in her or his country, or particular media
organization. Always bring relevant cases, questions, comments to class. For some classes,
sending and discussing relevant cases is required. Please formulate your own critical position
towards the required readings and the issues we discuss. Small assignments (including “Was
Brown right?”, HKU environmental talk/movie screening coverage,) also constitute part of
class activity.
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Intended learning outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
1. Identify stakeholders and their basic strategies in environmental politics and
communication.
2. Understand and creatively use basic concepts of political ecology.
3. Explore framing and agenda setting practices in the area of environmental communication
in general, and news about the environment in particular.
4. Apply environmental discourse analysis to media texts.
5. Critically analyze media events, fiction films and documentaries related to environmental
issues.
6. Describe and explain environmental NGOs’ media and communication strategies and
how journalists and editors may utilize these.
7. Understand major concepts, practices and dilemmas of environmental journalists,
including novel ways of using social media.
8. Demonstrate a critical awareness of sustainable practices in commercial media.
9. Develop sensitivity towards, and explore how media professionals may contribute to
social, economic and environmental sustainability.
10. Analyze and evaluate particular events and trends in different areas of environmental
communication in a comprehensive framework.
Grade descriptors
1.
Identify stakeholders and their basic strategies in environmental politics and
communication.
A Invariably explores relevant stakeholders and provides sophisticated analysis of their communicative strategies.
B Regularly explores relevant stakeholders and provides insightful analysis of their communicative strategies.
C Occasionally shows insight and analysis.
F Rarely or never shows insight, analysis.
2.
Understand and creatively use basic concepts of political ecology.
A Creatively uses basic concepts of political ecology and applies them in the critical analysis of media texts.
B Regularly demonstrates understanding of basic concepts of political ecology and applies them in the analysis of media
texts.
C Does not consistently demonstrate clear understanding of the concepts, and does not consistently produce clear analysis.
F Rarely or never produces clear or accurate analysis.
3.
Explore framing and agenda setting practices in the area of environmental
communication in general, and news programs about the environment in particular.
A Creatively uses the concepts of framing and agenda setting and applies them in the analysis of environmental
communication.
B Regularly demonstrates understanding of framing and agenda setting and uses them in the analysis of environmental
communication.
C Does not consistently demonstrate clear understanding of the concepts, and does not consistently produce clear analysis.
F Rarely or never produces clear or accurate analysis.
4.
Apply environmental discourse analysis to media texts.
A Conducts deep, structural environmental discourse analysis with detailed linguistic arguments about media texts.
B Regularly demonstrates understanding of environmental discourses and linguistic tools in media texts.
C Does not consistently demonstrate clear understanding of the concept and tools of environmental discourse analysis..
F Rarely or never produces clear or accurate analysis.
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5.
Critically analyze media events, fiction films and documentaries related to
environmental issues.
A Invariably goes below the surface of media events, movies and documentaries and demonstrates sophisticated analysis of
their deeper meaning and professional communication strategies and practices.
B Regularly shows ability to go below the surface and provide insightful analysis.
C Occasionally shows ability to go below the surface and provide analysis.
F Rarely or never shows insight, analysis.
6.
Describe and explain environmental NGOs’ media and communication strategies and
how journalists and editors may utilize these.
A Always demonstrates the ability to clearly present and evaluate different aspects of NGOs’ media and communication
strategies and how journalists and editors may utilize these.
B Regularly demonstrates the ability to present and evaluate different aspects.
C Occasionally demonstrates the ability to present and evaluate different aspects.
F Rarely or never demonstrates the ability to find source materials and present different aspects.
7.
Understand major concepts, practices and dilemmas of environmental journalists.
A Always demonstrates a clear grasp of relevant concepts, practices and dilemmas.
B Regularly demonstrates a clear grasp of relevant concepts, practices and dilemmas.
C Occasionally demonstrates a clear grasp of relevant concepts, practices and dilemmas.
D Rarely or never demonstrates a grasp of relevant concepts, practices and dilemmas.
8.
Demonstrate a critical awareness of sustainable practices in commercial media.
A Always creatively explores all relevant aspects of sustainable practices in commercial media.
B Regularly explores most relevant aspects.
C Does not consistently relevant aspects.
F Rarely or never identifies relevant aspects.
9.
Develop sensitivity towards, and explore how media professionals may contribute to
social, economic and environmental sustainability.
A Creatively explores all relevant aspects of strategies of media professionals.
B Regularly demonstrates understanding of relevant aspects of strategies of media professionals.
C Does not consistently demonstrate clear understanding of relevant aspects.
F Rarely or never produces clear or accurate analysis.
10.
Analyze and evaluate particular events and trends in different areas of environmental
communication in a comprehensive framework.
A Creatively explores, contextualizes, and evaluates particular aspects of environmental communication in a comprehensive
framework.
B Regularly demonstrates understanding of particular aspects of environmental communication in a comprehensive
framework.
C Does not consistently demonstrate understanding and use of a comprehensive framework.
F Rarely or never produces clear, accurate and relevant analysis.
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