In recent years there seems to be less news and information about the environment and conservation being delivered to audiences through traditional news media such as television and newspapers.
This is a topic that is or should be in the hearts and minds of the majority of citizens living on this planet. Many people are getting information about our planet, how it is being harmed, and what we as its inhabitants can do to help but it doesn’t seem to be coming from these traditional sources.
An interview with The Virginian-Pilot Online Producer Olivia Hubert-Allen might shed light
onto why the topics of planet and environmental conservation are not being reported by legacy media, especially on a regional level. When asked if The Virginian-Pilot had a section in its paper or a department within its organization that covers stories of science and the environment, she said that it doesn’t "have a specific team that is tasked with covering news about the planet” and its environment.Scott Harper, a member of The Virginian-Pilot’s enterprise team, would be considered the paper's environmental reporter. However, the enterprise team, as Hubert-Allen explained, “tends to do more in-depth, investigative kind of reporting,” which is not typically front-page news.
The majority of regional papers don’t have specific departments that cover environmental issues and stories and Hubert-Allen offers some reasons, based on her own experience working for The Virginian-Pilot.
Hubert-Allen posits that “locally there wouldn’t be enough content to warrant a whole team” nor the “interest from readers”. It’s hard not to question why these beliefs exist within regional news organizations.
The topic of the environment affects people on not just a global level but on a local level as well. Pollution exists in larger industrial cities, which should be a local concern of citizens within those cities. Even smaller towns around the country have environmental issues such as the contamination of local water supplies that affect the public health.
"most of the [environmental] stories we run involve some sort of negative health risk or they impact the economy"
The public concern is exactly what is at the heart of environmental issues as Hubert-Allen suggests, that the environmental stories that do run “tend to do pretty well because most of the stories we run involve some sort of negative health risk” as a result of pollution “or they impact the economy” as in environmental restrictions that are placed on businesses inhibiting their ability to conduct business as they once did. In addition, it seems that it takes a tragedy or human death for news about conservation to come to the mainstream media as was the case with the death of Sea World trainer Dawn Brancheau, when she was grabbed and drown by the Killer Whale, Tilikum.
As the online producer for a local newspaper’s website, Hubert-Allen is at the forefront of modern news that is helping to cover stories relating to traditional back-page topics such the environment and bring them to the forefront. Her role is to give a voice to the local community that reads. Like a growing number of traditional media outlets, The Pilot has begun to devote a section of its online publication to citizen journalism.
News sources like The Pilot, The Washington Post, and CNN that have an online presence allow their audiences to report on stories that interest them and most likely will interest other readers or viewers since they reside in the same community and most likely have the same concerns as the citizen reporter.
The Virginian-Pilot’s HamptonRoads.com section, which covers the goings-on of the local community, invites readers to offer their own news stories for publication and even offers to help in the writing or critiquing of a story. This is becoming a common thread among news organizations as more include links to articles written by citizens.
This increase of citizen participation in news coverage can be a good thing, yet Hubert-Allen does express a fear as most news organizations may regarding citizen journalism: That “people who don’t know what they’re talking about could help to make the conversation murkier." This is a valid point in the early stages of citizen journalism in that it is hard to establish and distinguish credibility of citizen reporters.
One way that credibility can be established or incorrect information can be avoided in stories is dependent on the community the news source serves. Fellow citizen reporters or readers of citizen stories can post comments or corrections to the story. This is the advantage of online citizen journalism. People can offer immediate corrections or additional information, which adds to a story and helps to establish credibility.
Another concern of Hubert-Allen's is that some people might have an alternative agenda when reporting on certain topics. She says, “we have a lot of people in this area who are convinced global warming is a hoax” and want to squash the climate control discussion as climate control would deter their ability to live their lifestyle or affect the company they own which may contribute to pollution.
It is a valid concern that people have little credibility or may have alternative agendas, but, at least these topics are being discussed and ideas are being exchanged freely, which is the point and advantage of citizen journalism.
Hubert-Allen also proposes the idea that citizen news stories could benefit from expert analysis either in the form of an environmental beat reporter at a newspaper or the simple act of experts acting as fellow readers commenting on or correcting stories.
This is why it is so important that more people get involved or at least become aware of citizen journalism and the power it possesses. When experts and the public alike participate it will only improve journalism and help to get issues such as the environment and conservation back onto the front page.
So, next time you visit an online newspaper, be sure to look for the citizen journalism link in the menu and check out what your neighbors are writing about and maybe even add your own story.
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