While there can be no doubt that the modern information society does much to strenghthen the global sustainability movement, the mass media‘s shifting focus can also lead to serious problems when it comes to promoting those sustainability topics which do not make for interesting headlines and draw very little mediatic repercussion.
In this context, one can distinguish several different problematic scenarios, to each of which I will devote a short passage of this essay.
Table of Contents
1. Scenario 1: The rule of the worst news
2. Scenario 2: The Good VS. the Nice - competition for mediatic aknowledgement
3. Scenario 3: Sustainability is soooo boring *yawn*
4. Scenario 4: The unpopular truth - dealing with systemic taboos
5. Internet activism and NGOs - the knight in shining armour for sustainability politics?
Objectives and Themes
This essay explores the complex relationship between media coverage and the visibility of sustainability issues, examining how news agendas often marginalize critical environmental topics. It investigates how media logic, competition for space, and systemic taboos influence public awareness and suggests strategies for effective communication and activism to overcome these barriers.
- The impact of catastrophic news cycles on sustainability issue visibility
- Competition for media attention among different sustainability topics
- The influence of systemic, capitalistic taboos on media discourse
- The role and limitations of NGOs in digital-era agenda setting
Excerpt from the Book
Scenario 1: The rule of the worst news
In the world of news agencies, bad news is, of course, good news. Concerning sustainability, this leads to two different conclusions: Any catastrophe will blot out more subtle themes. If the catastrophe is in some way related to sustainability politics, the huge mediatic repercussion will often help propell things forward at astonishing speed, as has happened in Germany after Fukushima. If, however, the current catastrophe is not related to such a topic, chances are the media space for sustainability related issues will diminish for the time being. As mentioned in the introduction, this was the case when the Samarco dam broke in Brasil on November 5 2015, just eight days before the terrorist attacks on Paris (13.11.2016). Depending on the magnitude of the catastrophe in question, it can be hard to get other topics back on the agenda, thus possibly hampering progress in sustainability politics which may have depended on some mediatic help. This could be observed after the September 11th 2001 attack on the Twin Towers, which blotted out virtually all other themes for a long time.
Summary of Chapters
Scenario 1: The rule of the worst news: Examines how high-impact catastrophes dominate media coverage, often overshadowing essential but less sensational sustainability topics.
Scenario 2: The Good VS. the Nice - competition for mediatic aknowledgement: Discusses the internal competition for limited media space and the need for interdisciplinary cooperation over individual topic promotion.
Scenario 3: Sustainability is soooo boring *yawn*: Analyzes the challenge of communicating complex, long-term sustainability issues to a public and media that prioritize immediate, short-term interests.
Scenario 4: The unpopular truth - dealing with systemic taboos: Addresses how the capitalistic system acts as a filter, suppressing radical sustainability ideas like degrowth while endorsing growth-compatible topics.
Internet activism and NGOs - the knight in shining armour for sustainability politics?: Explores the role of digital activism in shaping agendas and warns of the dangers of fragmented, uncoordinated mass-activism.
Keywords
Sustainability, Media, Agenda Setting, Public Awareness, Activism, NGOs, Journalism, Catastrophe, Systemic Taboos, Capitalistic System, Interdisciplinary, PR-work, Climate Change, Degrowth, Digital Culture
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this essay?
The essay focuses on the influence of media-based agenda setting on sustainability issues and how specific journalistic patterns hinder or support public awareness.
What are the central thematic fields?
The paper covers news cycle dynamics, media competition, systemic economic taboos, and the evolving role of digital activism in environmental politics.
What is the primary objective of this work?
The primary goal is to analyze the obstacles sustainability topics face in the media and to provide a framework for better communicating these issues to the public.
What methodology is applied in this essay?
The author uses a qualitative, analytical approach, examining theoretical concepts and case studies (e.g., the Samarco dam, Fukushima) to illustrate media behavior.
What is treated in the main body of the work?
The main body breaks down the problem into four specific "scenarios" ranging from news competition to systemic taboos, followed by a discussion on NGO-led internet activism.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Sustainability, media agenda-setting, public discourse, systemic taboos, and activist mobilization.
How does the Samarco dam disaster serve as an example?
It illustrates how a major environmental catastrophe can be silenced or ignored by international media if it is superseded by more "sensational" events, such as terrorist attacks.
What does the author mean by "the system understands what it is interested in understanding"?
This refers to the observation that media and political structures naturally filter out information that threatens their core principles, such as capitalism or growth-based economic models.
Why is NGO activism described as both a blessing and a challenge?
While NGOs successfully increase awareness for niche topics, the current "avalanche" of uncoordinated online activism can lead to confusion and lack of focus in policy-making.
- Quote paper
- M.A. Nicholas Gudrich (Author), 2016, Sustainability Politics and the Media. Sustainability issues in the face of media based agenda setting, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/338705
