Environmental Problems through the Spanish Press: Methodological issues and preliminary results B.Cortés*, MªAmérigo*, J.I.Aragonés# y V.Sevillano# * Dpto.

Environmental Problemsthrough the Spanish Press:

Methodological issues and preliminary results

B.Cortés*, MªAmérigo*, J.I.Aragonés# y V.Sevillano#

* Dpto. Psicología. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

# Fac. Psicología. Universidad Complutense de Madrid

17th Conference IAPS-2002

Outline

Theoreticalbackground

Theoreticalbackground

The QualitativeStudy Design

The QualitativeStudy Design

Preliminary Results

Preliminary Results

New direction of this qualitative inquiry

New direction of this qualitative inquiry

Theoretical Background

Psychology has an indispensable role in understanding environmental problems and finding solutions...

But causes and solutions are varied.

They do not lie only in psychological variables;

they also lie in external forces

operating on classes of individuals

or on social systems. (Stern, 2000)

Vitally important for understanding environmental beliefs and values are socialization and social learning. (Zelezny, Chua y Aldrich, 2000)

“Consciousness raising” is stimulated and reinforced by societal institutions; it is a necessary ingredient in social learning. (Milbrath, 1986)

Integratives theoretical models of environmental concern presume that value orientations

underlie environmental attitudes andbehaviour. (Stern, Dietz y Kalof, 1993; Thompson yBarton, 1994)

A substantial part of our experience comes indirectly, through various forms of media exposure. If media reporting is biased, then much of our experience will be biased, too. (Combs and Slovic, 1979; Bonnes et al. 1997)

Mass media are powerful socializationagents and create a symbolic universe in which transmitters and recipients are

inmersed as members of a society in a concrete context.

They are an excellent way in which to discover how a body of knowledge (e.g. environmental problems) becomes socially accepted as ”reality”.

The Qualitative Study Design

Primary research questions:

What environmental problems receive

newspaper coverage in Spain?

From what perspective are they presented?

How is said perspective expressed in the

chosen texts?

We presume that: Newspaper coverage offers social frames

of reference which can reduce or amplify particular environmental problems;

Events occurring on a daily basis condition their presence and/or persistence in newspaper coverage.

MethodThree national newspapers were selected:

ABC,EL MUNDO,EL PAÍS.

Different ideological orientationSame period of time

Calendar

for

scheduling

sampling

dates

53 dates for each journal Total = 159 issues

Predefined conditions: “Substantive issues” included as

environmental problems in relevant international research.

News items where the headlines, subheadings, inserts or highlighted texts (bold face, italics, or larger typographical lettering) correspond to any of the predefined subjects.

Editorials, letters to the editor, and articles of opinion where a diagonal reading reveals any of these subjects.

Exclusion CriteriaArticles related to production or judicial conflicts about agriculture or cattle Advertising and comic strips News related to historical-artistic heritage Suplements from Autonomous Comunities

Sampling Frame

Further Sampling Decisions

Based on consideration of the evolution of environmental conceptualization: going from a traditional definition in natural terms to one where there is an interdependence between the social, cultural, and economic dimensions (related to the development model).

Check-sampling by independent researchers: aids definitional clarity and is a reliability check.

As soon as the field

work begins tocompile

information,challenges

appear

Inclusion of articles related to:Accidents & disasters Demografic trends Warlike conflicts New technologies

AIDS, tobacco Poverty, globalization, human

rightsIF there was EXPLICIT

RELATION withENVIRONMENTAL

PROBLEMS

Early Steps in Analysis Codes and codingDatabase design: date-newspaper-

page-headline-keyword indicating thematic content (possible bias)

Total = 1765 News ítems 168 Keywords

1º Filter:Elimination of differences due to

typographical errorsElimination of keywords with less

than 5 mentionsThematic grouping; e.g. Pollution contamination Natural catastrophes natural

disasters Woodlands, protected forests &

virgin forests

48 Keywords

1536 of the total nº of articles (87%)

Preliminary Results Analysis of the 5 most frequently used keywords

Mad cows 356 23%

Radiations 111 7%

Foot and mouth disease 99 6%

Nuclear energy 97 6 %

Nat. Hydrological Plan 93 6%

Fr = 48%Particular

persistence innewspaper coverage

Frecuency Analysis

Newspaper News % Keywords

ABC 456 29,69 36

MUNDO 529 34,44 42

El PAÍS 551 35,87 43

Year 1999 2001 Newspaper ABC MUNDO PAÍS ABC MUNDO PAÍS

News 132 186 197 324 343 354 % 8,6% 12,1% 12,8% 21,1% 22,3% 23%

Keywords 24 32 30 25 28 30 Total T news = 515 (33,5 %) T news = 1021 (66,4 %)

1999 2001 16 1

90

340 110 99 7 93

Frecuency

New codes (straightforward category label) = more than 50 mentions

0

100

200

300

400

500

disasters

radioactivityillness

nature

miscellaneous

Nat.Hidrol.Plan

socioeconomy

Serie1

disasters

radioactivity

illness

nature

miscellaneous

Nat.Hidrol.Plan

socioeconomy

Code Keywords Fr Illness Mad cows, foot and mouth disease, AIDS. 470 Disasters Earthquake, toxic waste, storm, flood, rain, building collapse.. 383 Radioactivity Radiation, nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, antinuclears 263 Socioeconomy OMC, globatization, green parties, development,

demography, welfare state… 169

Miscellaneous Breakdown in electrical energy supplies, dangerous combustion of materials, tobacco, genetics, meteorology, renewable energy

98

Nat. Hydrol.Plan National Hydrological Plan. 93 Nature Depletion of species, environment, fox hunting,

environmental protection, animals, ecology, conservation of nature.

61

0.747 -------------------------------nvest.genética especulac-terreno --fallo-sumin-electr ---------------------------------- 0.721 | | | 0.695 | | | 0.668 | | | 0.642 | | | 0.616 | | | 0.590 | inundaciones | | 0.564 | | | 0.537 | OMC | 0.511 | | | 0.485 | | | 0.459 | | | 0.432 | | | 0.406 | EL PAIS condonación-deuda-exter | 0.380 | | | 0.354 | | contaminación | 0.328 | | | 0.301 | | | 0.275 | | agotam-especies | 0.249 | lluvia | 0.223 | medioambiente globalización | bosques | 0.197 | | volcán | 0.170 | | radiaciones | 0.144 | | | 0.118 | | | 0.092 | meteorología vertido-tóxico/demografía | 0.066 | energía-nuclear | | 0.039 | | desarrollo 0.013 ---------------------------------------------------------+-- ------------------------------------------Estado -0.013 | vacas locas PHN Bienestar| -0.039 | | | -0.066 | | derrumbe edificac | -0.092 | terremoto fiebre aftosa | -0.118 | | armamento nuclear huracán | -0.144 | | temporal | -0.170 | | ABC | -0.197 | | | -0.223 | | | -0.249 | EL MUNDO defensa med amb | -0.275 | energrenivable | combust-produc-tóxico | -0.301 | | escape -0.328 | | tóxico| -0.354 | | tormenta| -0.380 | desastres naturales | | -0.406 | | | -0.432 | | desigualdad pobl | -0.459 | bienestar | | -0.485 | ecología | | -0.511 | verdes | | -0.537 | antinucleares | | -0.564 | | | -0.590 viento | cielo -0.616 animales | único| -0.642 | | | -0.668 | | | -0.695 | | | -0.721 sida | cacería zorro | -0.747 ----conserv-natural ----tabaco pobreza ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -0.993 -0.596 -0.199 0.199 0.596 0.993

LexicalAnalysis:

Theglobal

Structure(SPAD)

toxic emissionsstorm

nuclear arms-hurricane-stormy weather

NHPlan

dangerous combustion

Development-Welfare State

single sky

AIDS-conservation of nature-tobacco

wind-animals

greens

nuclear energy

natural disasters

WTO

electrical failure

floods

genetic research-land speculation

1.366 --------------------conserv-natural ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.319 | | | 1.271 | animales | | 1.223 | | | 1.175 | desastres naturales | | 1.127 | | | 1.079 | | | 1.031 | | | 0.983 | tabaco | | 0.935 | | | 0.887 | 99 MUNDO | | 0.839 | energianuclear | | 0.791 | | | 0.743 | | | 0.695 | pobreza | | 0.647 | medioambien sida | 0.599 | | | 0.551 | meteorología | 0.503 | ecología | 0.455 | invedemografía | 0.408 | inundaciones | bienestar | 0.360 | globalización viento | 0.312 | 99 PAIS especulaterreno | | 0.264 | | energía renovable verdes | 0.216 | OMC | antinucleares | 0.168 | defensa amb | | 0.120 | | 01 MUNDO | 0.072 | lluvia | | 0.024 ---------------------------------------------------------+-- 01PAÍS derrumb edificac ---------------------- -0.024 | vertido tóxico | terremoto PHN vacas locas radiaciones | -0.072 | contaminación | fiebre aftosa | -0.120 | | 01ABC cielo único | -0.168 | | | -0.216 | | | -0.264 | | armamento nuclear | -0.312 | | | -0.360 | agotam especies | | -0.408 | | | -0.455 | | | -0.503 | temporal | | -0.551 | | | -0.599 | | | -0.647 | desigualdad pobl | | -0.695 | | | -0.743 | bosques producto tóxico | | -0.791 | volcán | | -0.839 | | | -0.887 | desarrollo | -0.935 | | | -0.983 | | | -1.031 | | | -1.079 | huracan | | -1.127 | condondeudaexter | | -1.175 | | | -1.223 | | | -1.271 | | | -1.319 | | | -1.366 -------------Estado Bienestar tormenta Escape tóxico -------------------------------------------------------------- -1.997 -1.198 -0.399 0.399 1.198 1.997

Comparativelexical

analysis: 1999 & 2001

Storm-toxic emissions- Welfare State

hurricane-pardoning of debt

forest-toxic productsvolcano

depletion of species

population inequality

WTO

development

nuclear energy

tobacco

conservation of nature-animals-

natural disasters

poverty

rain

AIDS

envir-defenseWTOWTO

nuclear energy

floods

Toxic wasre

depletion of species

land speculation

pardoning of debt

forest-volcano

nuclear weapons

single sky

wind-renewable energy-greens

earthquake

genetic research

electrical failure

dangerous combustion

mad cowsfoot & mouth

diseaseNHP

radiationsfox hunting

New Directionof This Qualitative Inquiry

Analytic progression: moving to identify discourse trends.

Deductive or “conceptual” strategy: Consideration of three forms of denial related to environmental conflicts or “symptoms of moral exclusion” (Opotow & Weiss, 2000). denial of outcome severity, denial of stakeholders inclusion, and denial of self-involvement.

Ethical orientation underlying environmental problems

+ Heuristic value in the analysis of environmental problems as socially constructed

EXAMPLE: Analysis of database:

headlines from the three newspapers 1st. date in December ´99 (2-12-99) Comparison of the headlines grouped under WTO ABC. Mentions Clinton twice and gives a leading role to the

WTO (as it receives its “baptism of fire”) El MUNDO. Mentions Clinton once “he offers zero tariffs

to the poorer countries and dialogue to the demonstrators”. Next headline: “The ridiculous protests before the WTO”. – Memo: “Condescension” & “Normalization of

violence”? (Opotow y Weiss, 2000) El PAÍS. + stakeholders: the Vatican (which “accuses the

“powers” of indifference”), the demonstrators (as protagonists who “sharpen their irony”)…– ABC & EL MUNDO: “Denial of stakeholder inclusion”?

ABC = 4EL MUNDO= 8EL PAÍS = 8

Natural Resources : “As far as the environment

is concerned, the demonstrators hold the World Trade Organization responsible for the fact that the poor countries have to continue pillaging their natural resources to survive…”

“Demonstrators sharpen their irony”. Messages of protest on the banners :

“The turtles say no to the WTO”

“The butterflies say no to the WTO”

“The dolphins say no to the WTO”…

“The ecological family is opposed to the WTO”…

EL PAÍS 2-12-99

Editorial: People and Commerce.•“the civilian society has invaded Seattle… it is not something which interests or concerns solely businessmen or politicians, but a great number of people, as Clinton himself has been forced to recognise due to the pressure of these events.”