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The Press and Public Access to the Environment and Development Debate

This paper presents an analysis of some aspects of newspaper coverage of environment and development issues. In particular, Global Warming and the Sudan famine are used as case studies of the features of this coverage. It argues that there are few grounds for adopting the optimistic view, as taken by some researchers, that the press will sustain and deepen its reporting of these issues. The analysis uses a computer-based methodology in which a key feature is the use of full-text on-line database of the contents of four newspapers. This paper presents the first steps in applying this methodology to the investigation of press reporting. It shows how the broad quantitative indicators available from this source can illustrate comparative patterns of newspaper coverage over long time periods and a wide range of themes. The ultimate purpose of this analysis is to understand the processes which contribute to informing or educating public debate about issues that crucially affect the political and economic future of society. The argument is that the press docs educate the public (its readers) but that this process is highly selective, it can contradict espoused editorial policy, and frequently environment and development issues receive less prominence as their political significance increases. The analysis shows therefore that in many cases the coverage given to these issues actually declines even as their significance increases. The authors argue that a social solution is required if the press is to be re-established as a public educator in a more positive sense. Methods must be developed for monitoring and influencing the processes by which the press manipulates the climate of opinion whilst nurturing its readership. One approach to this problem is taken by the Education Networks for Environment and Development Project at Sussex University where the results of this type of analysis are used to inform an open network of workers in a variety of professional institutions. Future investigations will look in more detail at this concept.