ABSTRACT

Environmental journalists have been at the forefront of news industry changes. Over the past 30 years, they have had to deal with a range of challenges, including increased complexity, greater reliance on data, exposure to online negativity, and co-option into polarised political debates. At the same time, they have been among the most vulnerable to newsroom cutbacks. This exploratory study examines the extent to which environmental journalists can be considered emblematic of challenges facing beat journalism in general. Drawing on rare, on-the-record interviews with environmental reporters in the US, UK, and Ireland, the study finds that, based on environmental journalists’ experiences, specialised environmental beats are becoming the preserve of larger media organisations with dedicated audiences, while at smaller news outlets, specialist reporters have taken on two or more beats, thereby diluting coverage of specific areas overall. Environmental journalists have also had to reconsider traditional roles, such as the conduit function, and long-standing norms, such as objectivity and impartiality. These trends may come to be replicated across other beats as journalists begin to report from a social justice standpoint, or rely more on science and data, as has happened during Covid-19 coverage.

摘要

环境记者一直处于新闻行业变革的最前沿。在过去的 30 年里，他们不得不应对一系列挑战，包括日益增加的复杂性、对数据的更多依赖、暴露在网上的消极情绪中，以及参与两极分化的政治辩论。与此同时，他们是最容易受到新闻编辑部裁员影响的人群之一。这项探索性研究考察了环境记者在多大程度上可以被视为典型新闻业面临的挑战的象征。该研究利用对美国、英国和爱尔兰的环境记者进行​​的罕见的公开采访，发现根据环境记者的经验，专门的环境节拍正在成为拥有专门受众的大型媒体组织的专利，而在较小的新闻媒体上，专业记者进行了两次或更多次的拍摄，从而稀释了对特定领域的整体报道。环境记者还不得不重新考虑传统角色，例如渠道功能，以及长期存在的规范，例如客观性和公正性。随着记者开始从社会正义的角度进行报道，或者更多地依赖科学和数据，这些趋势可能会在其他节拍中复制，就像在 Covid-19 报道中发生的那样。