Lund University Masters Programme in Environmental Science (LUMES) The Influence of the Media on the Development of Publics Environmental Consciousness: Case study of Lithuanian Press Masters Thesis 2000 By Ausra Maceviciute Supervisor For correspondence: Åsa Thelander, MA Lund University, Ausra Maceviciute, Dainu 39-12 Media and Communication Studies 5400 Siauliai, Lithuania Address: Box 114, S-22100 Lund, Sweden
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[email protected] Phone: +37 (0) 1 454149 Phone: +46 46 222 00 00, +46 46 222 88 56 +37 (0) 736788549 Fax: +46 +46 222 47 94 1 Acknowledgements First, I would like to express sincere appreciation to Åsa Thelander from Sociology department, Media and Communication Studies at Lund University for her assistance in the preparation of this work. Thank you for taking your time and for always being ready to exchange ideas. Many thanks also to Renata Matkeviciene and Iveta Jakimaviciene from Mass Communication Departament at Vilnius University and Dzeinara Kaunaite at Klaipeda University for helping me to collect the data. I am very grateful to Elena, who provided me encouragement, guidance, information and support. I thank my friends for encouragement, moral support and friendship during lumes time. I am also grateful to my friend Silvija, who helped me with questionnaires. Summary Mass media plays a crucial role as a source of information, in encouraging knowledge and concern about environmental problems. Presumably, the more informed the public is about environmental problems the more likely they will be to support politicians and policies committed to environmental protection. Therefore it is crucial to investigate mass media contributions to the formation of public environmental consciousness.