- Title
- The relative representation of ecosystem services and disservices in South African newspaper media
- Creator
- Mclellan, V, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179699
- Identifier
- vital:43162
- Identifier
- https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2019.1667442
- Description
- Newspapers are key information sources and may influence both public opinion and policy. Previous studies have analysed the portrayal of ecosystem disservices in newspapers, but none have assessed the relative coverage between disservices and services, or how it might have changed over time. We report on the relative frequency and depiction of ecosystem services and disservices in South African, English newspapers over a 15-year period. We used a SABINET search complemented by key-informant interviews with environmental journalists. For each article we recorded if it covered ecosystem services or disservices, the type of service or disservice, and article tone and length. Overall, 2,201 articles were found, of which 25% were on services and 75% on disservices. The number of articles per year declined over the 15-year period for services, but not disservices. The most common services were energy and craft materials, food production, recreation and culture, and disservices were human health, heat waves and floods. Articles on ecosystem services were 25–40% longer than those on disservices. Article lengths on both declined over the 15 years. The greater reporting of ecosystem disservices over services is likely to influence public opinion and environmental decision-making accordingly.
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (11 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Taylor and Francis Online
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Ecosystems and People, 2019. The relative representation of ecosystem services and disservices in South African newspaper media. Ecosystems and People, 15(1), pp.247-256., Ecosystems and People volume 15 number 1 p.247 2019 2639-5916
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Taylor and Francis Online Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/terms-and-conditions)
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
Shackleton, Charles Michael (Distinguished Prof)
RU Department of Environmental Science
RU DST/NRF SARChI for Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods
SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 15. Life On Land
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details | SOURCE1 | Article 2_The relative representation of ecosystem services and disservices in South African newspaper media-1 (2).pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |