Newspaper Reporters’ Priorities and Beliefs About Environmental Journalism: An Application of Q-Methodology

Abstract

This article assesses the variety of discourses articulated by journalists reporting on environmental issues. In particular, it investigates how environmental journalists perceive their role and function as reporters of environmental issues as well as the problems they face while reporting. The authors interviewed 23 newspaper reporters covering environmental issues for the nine largest (in terms of daily circulation) daily Greek newspapers, by employing Q-methodology, a qualitative statistical approach specially adjusted for small samples. The subsequent analysis reveals three “factors,” or distinct discourses, labeled “scientifically objective, environmentally responsible journalist,” “environmental crusaders,” and “objective-pure journalists.” By analyzing factors’ discourses, the authors concluded that these groups are highly similar to the “disseminator,” “interpreter/investigator,” and “populist mobilize” categories identified in previous research for journalists with different field orientations. However, the last category (“adversarial”) did not appear in our sample. The authors encourage the replication of this research study in other countries as an effective method of obtaining a broader understanding of the practices and impacts of environmental journalism at a global level.