, DOCUMENT RESUME ED 433 551 CS 510 132 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (82nd, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 3-8, 1999). Miscellaneous. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE 1999-08-00 NOTE 178p.; For other sections of this proceedings, see CS 510 132-153. PUB TYPE Collected Works Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Ethics; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; *Information Processing; Journalism Education; Journalism Research; *News Reporting; Professional Associations; Research Needs IDENTIFIERS *Environmental Reporting; India; Iowa; News Sources; *Risk Communication ABSTRACT The Miscellaneous section of the Proceedings contains the following 6 papers: "The Effect of Membership in the Society of Environmental Journalists on Inclusion of Enabling Information in Stories on Water Quality" (Michelle M. Tedford); "Press, Privacy and Presidential 'Proceedings': Moral Judgments and the Clinton-Lewinsky Affair" (Jennifer L. Lambe, Christina L. Fiebich, and Darcia Narvaez); "A Research Agenda for Establishing a Grounding for Journalistic Ethics" (Dan Shaver); "Framing an Environmental Controversy in India's English-Language Press: A Study of Text in Context" (Elizabeth Burch); "The Sources Iowans Trust: The Impact of Involvement on Credibility Perceptions and Channels Used for Environmental Issues" (Sunae Jo and Lulu Rodriguez); and "The Relationship of Risk Information Processing to Consideration of Behavioral Beliefs" (Robert J. Griffin, Kurt Neuwirth, James Giese, and Sharon Dunwoody). (RS) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (82nd, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 3-8, 1999): Miscellaneous. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. 1999-08 (1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BEST COPY AVAILABLE DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS Office of Educational Research and Improvement BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ./1 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Points of view or opinions stated in this 1 document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. The effect of membership in the Society of Environmental Journalists on inclusion of enabling information in stories on water quality Michelle M. Tedford masters student, Ohio University E. W. Scripps School of Journalism 6798 Hoover Ave. Dayton, OH 45427 937-837-7021 [email protected] Submitted for consideration to the Graduate Education Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication National Conference, August 1999. The effect of membership in the Society of Environmental Journalists on inclusion of enabling information in stories on water quality ABSTRACT This study builds on Rossow and Dunwoody's finding that enabling information in environmental stories is tied to editors' concerns for the issues. If membership is an indicator of concern, stories by SEJ members should include more enabling information from different sources, include more graphics, and influence the story's placement. In a look at water quality stories from 1993, none of these differences was found to correspond with membership when comparing member and non-member groups. 1 The effect of membership 1 The effect of membership in the Society of Environmental Journalists on inclusion of enabling information in stories on water quality In 1993, over 100,000 people were sickened from contamination to the municipal water supply in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.' It was an event heavily covered by national as well as local media. This contamination incident is only one of countless environmental risk issues being covered in daily newspapers throughout the country. Environmental risk communication informs the public of the danger, probability of occurrence/recurrence, causes and preventions of the risk in question. The effectiveness of risk communication holds implications for society, since the information can be used by the public to put demands on business or government to alleviate the risk to the community.2 One type of information is called "enabling" or "mobilizing" information. This is information that would be useful for readers trying to get more information about or to act on the reported issues. Environmental concern has been growing since the 1950s. In a 1994 public opinion poll, 61.1% of respondents believed that the government was "spending too little" to solve environmental problems.3 Since 1970 the year of the first Earth Day celebration media 1 Associated Press, "Milwaukee water suspect in illness," Capital Times; April 8, 1993: 1A. 2 Kandice L. Salomone, Michael R. Greenberg, Peter M. Sandman and David B. Sachsman, "A Question of Quality: How Journalists and News Sources Evaluate Coverage of Environmental Risk," Journal of Communication 40 (4): 117 (Autumn 1990). 3 James Shanahan and Katherine McComas, "Television's Portrayal of the Environment: 1991-1995," Journalism Quarterly 74 (1):150 (Spring 1997). The effect of membership 2 coverage of the environment has also increased.4 A need to improve the quality of this reporting was identified in the 1980s, and the Society of Environmental Journalists was founded in 1990. The society recognized that "the public is largely uninformed about environmental issues, and much of what it does know stems from mass media."5 The mission of SEJ, through programs and services, is to "advance public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of environmental reporting....SEJ acts to raise awareness among editors and other key decision makers in the media on the basic importance of environmental reporting."6 The purpose of this study is to determine whether membership in the Society of Environmental Journalists has a quantifiable impact on the product the environmental risk communication story. Following the pattern of a previous study by Rossow and Dunwoody,7 which found that editor concern for environmental issues increases the inclusion of enabling information, this study will compare enabling information by SEJ members and non-members by looking at water quality stories around the time of the Milwaukee water contamination. If reporter concern for the environment equates with membership in SEJ, then a similar increase in enabling information should be found. The effects of membership on journalists' stories has 4 C.R. Ader, "A longitudinal study of agenda setting for the issue of environmental pollution," Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 72 (2): 301 (Summer 1995). 5 Society of Environmental Journalists, "About SEJ," <http://www.sej.org/env_sej.htm>. 6Society of Environmental Journalists, "About SEJ." 7 Marshal D. Rossow and Sharon Dunwoody, "Inclusion of 'Useful' Detail in Newspaper Coverage ofa High Level Nuclear Waste Siting Controversy," Journalism Quarterly 68: 87-100 (Spring/Summer 1991). The effect of membership 3 not been widely researched, and this.study will not be able to indicate if concern led to membership, or membership led to concern. But if journalist concern furnishes the public with a better product that is, more useful information then their is a need to identify factors leading to a better product. LITERATURE REVIEW Need for Enabling Information The need for enabling information, while not called such, was voiced by environmental writer Bill McKibben in his 1992 book. He said we are living in an "age of missing information" about environmental issues.8 Since elites are considered to have an established connection to sources of influence, it can be surmised that the mass public is most at loss in the decision-making process when enabling information is missing.9 While missing information can lead to ignorance, enabling information can help bridge that gap between the elites and the public by providing an easy link between knowledge and action. The inclusion of mobilizing information, such as a phone number, address or details on a meeting, can increase public participation in the issue by reducing the time and resources the public must exert to follow up on an issue. The mobilizing effect can be further enhanced if the reader brings to the story concern for the issues being discussed.1° The finding that over half the 8 Shanahan and McComas, "Television's Portrayal of the Environment," 147. 9 Steven E. Hungerford and James B. Lemert, "Covering the Environment: A New 'Afghanistanism'?" Journalism Quarterly 50: 477 (Autumn 1973). 10 Carl R. Bybee, "Mobilizing Information and Reader Involvement: An Empirical Test," Journalism Quarterly 59: 399-400 (Autumn 1982). The effect of membership 4 respondents to an opinion poll believe the government is spending too little on environmental issues could signal such a predisposed motivation. Mobilizing information can also enhance a person's sense of responsibility or lessen fears that action on the issue would be inappropriate or inconsequentia1.II local Environmental Information This study looks specifically