Raising environmental awareness through media Monitoring report

Transcription

1 Raising environmental awareness through media Monitoring report ONE. Research methodology Content TWO. Environmental reporting in daily newspapers I Quantitative data on environmental reporting in daily newspapers Amount of environmental stories Content and tendency of environmental stories Subject and coverage of environmental stories Angle and type of environmental stories Conclusion of the section II. Environmental reporting in daily newspapers from journalistic perspective Genres, style and documentation Some quality assessments on the environmental stories Information balance and sources of information Conclusion of the section Appendix THREE. Television I. Quantitative data on the environmental reporting on television Volume of the environmental stories Content and tendency of environmental reporting Subject and coverage of environmental stories Angle and type of environmental stories Conclusion of the section II. Environmental reporting on television from journalistic perspective Some quality assessments on the environmental reporting Sources and balance in environmental stories Some assessment on journalist skills Conclusion of the section Appendix FOUR. FM radio stations I. Quantitative data on the environmental reporting on FM radios Volume of the environmental stories Content and tendency of environmental stories Subject and geographical coverage of environmental stories Angle and type of environmental stories Conclusion of the section II. Environmental reporting on FM radios from journalistic perspective Type of the environmental stories Some quality assessments on the environmental reporting Information balance and sources of information Conclusion of the section Appendix 1

2 FIVE. Public opinion pool on environmental awareness I. Knowledge about environmental issues Knowledge on needs and demand on environmental protection Public opinion on environmental protection The current environmental problems What information is essential for the public on environmental protection? Conclusion of the section II. Raising environmental awareness of citizens through media Main sources of information for public (to receive environmental information) Role of media in raising awareness and participation of citizens Conclusion of the section Appendix SIX. Summary of conclusions and recommendation of the project 2

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Within the frame of the Program Environmental Reform being implemented by the Ministry of the Environment of Mongolia with the financial assistance of the World Bank and the Environmental Trust Fund of the Netherlands Government, the Press Institute jointly undertook with the Mongolian Open Society Forum the sub-project on Raising Environmental awareness through media. Following activities have been undertaken within the frame of this sub-project: 1. Content analysis and public opinion poll have been conducted on the environmental stories published and broadcast through Mongolian media. 2. Workshops on environmental reporting for journalists and journalism teachers of higher educational institutions organized, based on the results of the above research 3. Quantitative data on media coverage of environmental issues as well as on knowledge of citizens about environmental issues become available and distributed to media professionals. Project duration: January - May 2006 Objectives of research: The content analysis and public opinion pool had following objectives: 1. Identify the scope of media coverage on environmental issues: (volume, placement, main topics, dominating issues, frequency, types and forms) 2. Analyze the environment related coverage from journalistic perspectives 3. Define the /potential/ influence of the media environmental awareness of citizens (usefulness of information from the view of citizens, interestingness, simplicity, accessibility to the public, balance and reliability etc.) 4. Identify (potential) needs of citizens as of environment related information Analysis category and data sheets are attached to every unit report. 3

4 ONE. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Within the frame of the project the research team of the Press Institute undertook the content analysis and a public opinion poll between January and March 2006 as follows: 1. Content analysis is conducted on the environment related articles in 6 daily newspapers, 6 nationwide broadcasting televisions, 1 national radio and 2 FM stations broadcasting in Ulaanbaatar. The media outlets involved in the research are provided in the list below: 1. Newspapers: o Unuudur o Udriin sonin o Ardyn erkh o Ulaanbaatar times o Unuudriin Mongol o Zuuny medee 2. Television: o Mongolian National Television o 25 channel television o TV 5 television o TV 9 television o UBS television o Eagle television 4 3. Radio: o Mongolian National Radio o Wind FM o Info radio FM These media outlets have been selected for study based on 1) frequency of newspaper issues and average broadcasting hours, 2) coverage and broadcast area and 3) features of the media outlets. In order to take possible changes in the content of media outlets connected with seasonal changes, newspaper issues for January, April, July and October 2005 and broadcast programs for random weeks between January 18 and 25, 2006, February 10-17, 2006 have been observed. 2. The public opinion pool has been conducted involving 500 households in Ulaanbaatar and nearer provinces during the week between January 16 and 23, Public opinion survey sample The sampling frame included households living Ulaanbaatar, Darkhan-Uul and Zuun mod including ger areas. In order to ensure the equal chance of households to be selected, households have been selected from 9 clusters according to the 9 administrative divisions on Ulaanbaatar, that is, from 9 districts of Ulaanbaatar plus Darkhan-Uul and Zuun mod towns. Each (area) district represents a sampling area, from which a certain number of households has been selected depending on the number of households living in the respective area. The number of households to be selected in each district has been determined by a sampling fraction one in three hundred thirty (one household represents three hundred thirty households). Thus, the sampling size in each district would be as follows: District and Town Frequency Percent Songino-Khairkhan 80 16,0 Bayanzurkh 90 18,0 Bayangol 80 16,0 Chingeltei 60 12,0 Sukhbaatar 50 10,0 Khan-Uul 40 8,0 Nalaikh 20 4,0

5 Baganuur 20 4,0 Darkhan-Uul town 40 8,0 Zuun mod town 20 4,0 Total ,0 Selecting households from each district: By selecting households from the respective areas the systematic sampling method with a random sampling has been chosen. Each district was divided into further administrative divisions (Khoroo), which was then divided into clusters according to the size of population, in order to determine the sub-sample areas (Khoroos) and the number of households in each Khoroo. This way a sampling plan was drawn, so that each Interviewer has been assigned to select households from certain streets. The interviewers have been thoroughly instructed on the selection procedure. Selecting of the household member to be interviewed From each household only one member has been chosen to answer the questionnaire. Eligible were all persons living in the respective households, aged 12 and over. In order to ensure random selection of household members, Kish Grid has been used before starting the interview. 5

6 TWO. Environmental reporting in daily newspapers I. Quantitative data on environmental reporting in daily newspapers Amount of environmental stories In order to assess the coverage of environmental issues in daily newspapers, the content 6 daily newspapers including Unuudur, Udriin sonin, Ardyn erkh, Ulaanbaatar times, Unuudriin Mongol and Zuuny medee have been analyzed as of January, April, July and October. Unuudriin Mongol newspaper was analyzed based on its issues for April, July and October since it did not exist yet as of January Table 1. Frequency and share of the environmental stories published in analyzed newspapers Unuudur Zuuny medee Udriin sonin Ardyn erkh Ulaanbaatar times Unuudriin Mongol Total January ,5% 28,2% 19,8% 39,0% 31,0% ,5% April ,0% 26,9% 12,3% 21,2% 25,6% 34,6% 22,4% July ,4% 18,6% 24,7% 15,1% 21,7% 28,2% 22,4% October ,1% 26,3% 43,2% 24,7% 21,7% 37,2% 29,6% Total 21.6% 20.7% 10.8% 19.4% 17.1% 10.4% 100.0% --- no data A total of 753 data is collected as a result of observation. From the above figures it can be concluded, that in daily newspapers the frequency of environmental reporting does not change with seasonal changes. According the analysis, Unuudur publishes environmental stories most frequently (163), followed by Zuuny medee (156), Ardyn erkh (146), Ulaanbaatar times (129), Unuudriin Mongol (98) and Udriin sonin (81). (Since there is no January issue of Unuudriin Mongol newspaper, the average number of environmental stories per month in this newspaper is added.) An average of 8 stories on environmental issues is published in daily newspapers every week, though it varies on newspapers. For instance, as for Unuudur, it is 10 a week, as for Zuuny medee 9, as for Ardyn erkh 9, as for Ulaanbaatar 8, as for Unuudriin Mongol 8 and as for Udriin sonin 5. Table 2. Statistic volume of environmental stories (by cm 2 ) Average size The smallest size The largest size Total size Unuudur 298, Zuuny medee 200, Udriin sonin 666, Ardyn erkh 194, Ulaanbaatar times 288, Unuudriin Mongol 248,

7 Total 290, According to the space dedicated to environmental stories, Udriin sonin published the biggest stories (53959 cm 2 ) followed by Unuudur with cm 2, Ulaanbaatar times with cm 2, Zuuny medee with cm 2, Ardyn erkh with cm 2 and Unuudriin Mongol with cm 2. A single environmental story covers an average of cm 2. The average size of stories varies, depending on the newspaper, the genres used and the type of the information. For example, average size of the environmental story published on Udriin sonin covers cm 2, while Ardyn erkh does cm 2. (See the information on writing form and type from the next part). The smallest size of an environmental story is 10 cm 2 and the largest is 4105 cm 2. The environmental stories are mostly placed on the first, fourth and seventh pages of the newspaper with short news stories dominating on the first page. Bigger stories, articles and interviews occupy the fourth and seventh pages. Table 3. Pages with the environmental stories (by percent) 1 Unuudur Zuuny medee Udriin sonin Ardyn erkh Ulaanbaatar times Unuudriin Mongol Total 1 st page 25,2% 35,9% 17,3% 32,2% 47,7% 33,3% 32,6% 2 nd page 5,1% 4,9% 0,8% 1,7% 3 rd page 9,8% 7,7% 3,7% 3,4% 15,6% 5,1% 8,0% 4 th page 18,4% 6,4% 2,5% 17,1% 17,2% 11,5% 13,0% 5 th page 1,8% 11,5% 11,1% 19,2% 4,7% 3,8% 8,9% 6 th page 3,7%,6% 3,4% 1,6% 3,8% 2,3% 7 th page 11,7% 6,4% 19,8% 14,4% 8,6% 6,4% 10,9% 8 th page 3,1% 15,4% 4,8% 1,6% 14,1% 6,5% 9 th page 8,0% 3,2% 2,5% 2,1%,8% 2,6% 3,5% 10 th page 3,1%,6% 1,4% 1,6% 11,5% 2,5% 11 th page 1,2%,6% 7,4% 2,1% 3,8% 2,0% 12 th page 6,1% 5,1% 3,8% 2,8% 13 th page 5,5% 1,3% 13,6% 2,9% 14 th page 2,5% 0,3% 15 th page 6,2% 0,7% 16 th page 1,2% 1,2% 0,4% 17 th page 1,2% 0,1% 19 th page 3,7% 0,4% 20 th page 1,2% 0,3% 21 st page 2,5% 0,3% 22 nd page 23 rd page 24 th page Total 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 1 Colored parts in the table show the total pages of the newspaper 7

8 About 77 percent of total environmental stories occupy first half of the newspaper pages (for example, on the first 5 pages of the newspaper with 10 pages). For instance, information on first pages cover 89 percent of Zuuny medee, 86 percent of Ulaanbaatar times, 84.8 percent of Unuudur, 75.3 percent of Ardyn erkh, 69.2 percent of Udriin sonin and 57.5 percent of Unuudriin Mongol. Table 4. Share of the environmental stories in daily newspaper Indices Newspapers Page size with editorial and ad content Total number of pages per issue Average number of issues per month Size of all information published during a month Size of all information published during 4 months Size of all environmental stories published during 4 months Share of environmental reporting in the total information by size Ulaanbaatar times 1406, ,1 Unuudriin Mongol 1453, ,8 Zuuny medee 1752, ,1 Unuudur ,4 Udriin sonin 1728, ,3 Ardyn erkh 1648, , ,7 The share of the environmental stories by size is between 1 to 3 percent. For instance, as of Ulaanbaatar times, the environmental reporting takes the largest or 3.1 percent of all information published in this newspaper, followed by Unuudriin Mongol with 1.8 percent, Ardyn Erkh with 1.7 percent, Unuudur with 1.4 percent, Udriin sonin with 1.3 percent and Zuuny medee with 1.1 percent (See Table 5). Figure 1. Size of the environmental stories in daily newspapers 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% Share of the environmental stories in the total newspaper content 0.0% Share of total space of the environmental stories in each newspaper Ulaanbaatar times Unuudriin Mongol Ardyn erkh Unuudur Udriin sonin Zuuny medee 3.1% 1.8% 1.7% 1.4% 1.3% 1.1% 17.0% 8.8% 13.0% 22.2% 24.6% 14.3% Share of environmental stories by frequency 17.1% 10.4% 19.4% 21.6% 10.8% 20.7% 8

9 Content and tendency of the environmental stories Information with negative aspects such as about earthquake, hurricane, volcano exploitation, drought, dzoud, flood, thunderstorm, hail, over-warming, scarcity in forest, flora and fauna, illegal hunting, water pollution, bird flu, anthrax, soil destruction without recovering, desertification, scarcity in pure water, and forest fire etc. take more than half of environmental reporting with 56.0 percent. Positive information on planting trees and bushes, growing vegetables, growth in wild animals, cleaning water and rivers from disposals, proper and efficient use of natural resources and possibilities, individual, institutional and government fight against improper behaviors (project activities such as unigas, green wall etc.) cover 23.8 percent and neutral information that contain positive and negative information cover 20.2 percent. Information on natural disasters cover relatively high or 30.1 percent, followed by stories on flora and fauna (24.7 percent), scarcity in wood and forest (8.0 percent), mineral resources and deposits (6.9 percent) and climate changes (5.4 percent) in terms of the content (See Table 6 for more detail). Table 5. Content and tendency of the environment related information Content Tendency Positive Neutral Negative Total 1 Natural disaster 2 Flora and fauna 3 Scarcity in wood and forest 4 Mineral resources and deposits 5 Climate change 6 Other 7 Air pollution 8 The environmental protection 9 Disposal 10 River and water pollution 11 State special protection area 12 Land, subsoil, and soil pollution ,3% 12,3% 71,4% 30,1% ,7% 19,9% 49,4% 24,7% ,7% 13,3% 55,0% 8,0% ,5% 42,3% 46,2% 6,9% ,8% 24,4% 65,9% 5,4% ,4% 11,1% 44,4% 4,9% ,0% 29,0% 41,9% 4,1% ,8% 23,1% 23,1% 3,5% ,8% 34,6% 34,6% 3,5% ,3% 29,2% 62,5% 3,3% ,4% 38,5% 46,2% 1,7% ,4% 9,1% 54,5% 1,5% 9

10 13 Toxic substance 14 Ozone layer 15 Desertification, soil eruption Total ,4% 55,6% 1,2% ,0% 80,0%,7% ,0% 25,0% 50,0%,5% ,8% 20,2% 56,0% 100,0% Subject and coverage of the environmental stories The majority of the environmental stories address to the public (84.2 percent), 0.3 percent to particular individuals, 0.7 percent to the social group, namely young people and the children, 12.5 percent to politicians and authoritative bodies and 2.4 percent to business and economic entities and private sector. The environmental stories addressing particular individuals, children and young people cover the environment protection and flora and fauna prevention issues, while information addressing politicians and authoritative bodies cover mineral resources, deposits, forests, and scarcity in wood issues. Information, addressing business and economic entities and private sector focuses on air pollution, positively the production of pressed fuel to reduce pollution and minerals, and negatively on vulnerable issues including improper use of mineral deposits and those addressing the public cover mainly natural disasters, other information to prevent from disasters and issues of flora and fauna. The environmental stories in newspapers include 66.9 percent of domestic information (of which 31.5 percent cover the particular territory such as a province, town, and district, 7.4 percent cover regions and 27.9 percent cover the country) and 33.1 percent is information of international nature. Stories on domestic issues cover mineral resources, deposits, flora and fauna while national stories focus on climate change, forest and wood scarcity, disposals and air pollution. International news stories mostly refer to natural disasters, flora and fauna. Angle and type of environmental stories The potential influence of articles and news stories on their readers depends greatly on the way how the information is delivered. In this regard, we classified the environmental stories in the newspapers into 4 categories. The analysis result shows that all environmental stories could be classified as interpretative (29.8 percent), informative (without any comments, 28.8 percent) percent advertisement and direct warning and 17.6 percent to educational information. Stories that have direct relation to citizens everyday life and thus bigger potentials to influence behaviors take the least share in the group of advertisement and warning. 10

11 In terms of the scale, interpretative stories occupy an average of 456 cm 2, covering 46.8 percent of total space of the environmental stories. Educational information covers 19 percent, occupying cm 2, advertisement and direct warning cover 20.4 percent, occupying cm 2 and informative stories (mainly news stories) cover 13.8 percent, occupying cm 2 of space. Figure 2. Environmental stories by type (by percent) 50.0% 45.0% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Informative Interpretative Advertisement, direct warning Educational Share by space 13.8% 46.8% 20.4% 19.0% Share of by frequency 28.8% 29.8% 23.8% 17.6% As of story angles, 15.1 percent of environmental stories have been written from economic perspective, 5.1 percent from political, 40.5 percent from social, 39.3 percent from moral/intellectual point of view. For instance, journalists address the issue of mineral resources from mostly political point of view, natural disasters from losses incurred to human life, health and economic perspective and the issues of flora and fauna from the viewpoint of environmental protection and human morality. Conclusion of the section Environmental reporting in daily newspapers does not vary with seasonal changes as of frequency; however, the topics of reporting do change in spring, summer, fall and winter. The environmental stories in daily newspapers take an average of 1.7 percent of all stories. As of space, the environmental stories cover 9518 cm 2 or 6 A2-sheets of a newspaper per month and the average size of a single story equals to cm 2 or 1/8 of A2 sheet. Daily newspapers publish an average of 8 environmental stories per week. Environmental stories are mostly placed on the first, fourth and seventh pages of the newspaper with news stories mainly on natural disasters on the first page. Bigger stories, articles and interviews occupy the fourth and seventh pages. About 77 percent of total 11

12 environmental stories are placed on the first half of total newspaper pages (for example, on the first 5 pages of a newspaper with 10 pages). The target group of the majority (84.2 percent) of environmental stories is the general public. As of story tendency, positive information covers 23.8 percent, neutral stories 20.2 percent and stories with negative information cover 56.0 percent. The share of information on natural disasters is relatively high (30.1 percent), followed by stories on flora and fauna (24.7 percent), scarcity in wood and forest (8.0 percent), mineral resources and deposits (6.9 percent) and climate changes (5.4 percent). The environmental stories include 66.9 percent of domestic information and 33.1 percent of foreign and global information in terms of geographic coverage percent of environmental stories is of interpretative nature, 28.8 percent is informative (mainly news stories without any comments), 23.8 percent is advertisement and direct warning and 17.6 percent educational materials. Stories that have direct connection with citizen s everyday life take a share of 8.8 percent. In terms of the story angle, environmental stories written from economic perspective take a share of 15.1 percent, from political perspective 5.1 percent percent of stories are written from social and 39.3 percent from the perspective of morality. II. Environmental reporting in daily newspapers from journalistic perspective Genres, style and documentation Genres, style, language and information sources of environmental stories are of great importance for improving knowledge and awareness of the audience on environmental issues. Table 6. Genres and information sources of the environmental stories (frequency and percentage) Source of info Statistical data Research materials Officials Observation Other Total Genre News Report Stories/Articles Interview ,6% 19,8% 3,0% 56,0% 10,6% 61.6% ,2% 17,4% 17,4% 47,8% 2,2% 6.1% ,8% 50,0% 9,8% 29,5%,8% ,2% 32,1% 34,0% 20,8% 7.0% 12

13 Letters & comments ,0% 10,0% 10,0% 10,0% 1.3 % Portrait 0.7% Notes Editorial Opinions/ Discussion Investigative story Total ,8% 23,8% 28,6% 42,9% 2.8% ,0% 0.1% ,0% 80,0% 1.3% ,2% 18,2% 9,1% 45,5% 9,1% 1.5% ,6% 26,6% 9,4% 46,4% 7,1% 100,0% The above table shows that provided the fact that the environmental information based on research materials (26.6 percent) and statistical data (10.6 percent) is well documented, such stories take a share of 37.2 percent. These are mainly background articles and investigative stories, interviews and reports. News stories are mostly based on quotes from officials and observations. In terms of genres, News with the smallest space of 119 cm 2 cover 61.6 percent and Opinions with cm 2 cover 1.3 percent of all environmental information. Similarly, genres which require large spaces take a small share by frequency. For instance, news cover 25.2 percent, background articles 36.3 percent, interviews 15.0 percent and reports 8.9 percent of the total space. A breakdown is provided in the Table 7. Table 7. Genres of the environmental stories by space (by percent, cm 2 ) Average space Total space Share in the total space Share in the total frequency News 119, ,2% 61,6% Stories/Articles 601, ,3% 17,5% Interviews 617, ,0% 7,0% Reports 421, ,9% 6,1% Reportage 558, ,4% 2,8% Investigative stories 650, ,3% 1,5% Letters & comments 239, ,1% 1,3% Discussion 799, ,7% 1,3% Portrait 532, ,2%,7% Editorials 147,00 147,1%,1% Total 290, ,0% 100,0% 13

14 Table 8. Genres by newspapers Unuudur Zuuny medee Udriin sonin Ardyn erkh Ulaanbaatar times Unuudriin Mongol STS 2 STF 3 STS STF STS STF STS STF STS STF STS STF News 17.6% 55.8% 33,4% 75,6% 18,2% 29,6% 41,9% 69,2% 29,3% 66,7% 18,6% 56,4% Stories/ 60.5% 27.6% 14,6% 3,8% 34,8% 27,2% 27,6% 19,2% 37,9% 14,0% 24,4% 16,7% Articles Interviews 12.5% 6.7% 30,8% 9,6% 3,0% 1,2% 21,7% 6,8% 11,0% 6,2% 26,6% 10,3% Reports 1.5% 2.5% 13,5% 7,7% 13,5% 18,5% 10,0% 6,2% 17,5% 9,0% Reportage 16,1% 11,1% 3,4% 1,4% 3,7% 4,7% 3,5% 5,1% Investigative stories Letters 3.6% 4.9% 1,3%,6% 0,4% 1,2% Opinions /Discussions 6,4% 2,6% 3,3% 2,1% 6,4% 1,6% 9,5% 2,6% 14,0% 11,1% 1,6% 0,7% Portrait 4.3% 2.5% 1,6% 0,8% Since access to environmental information is relatively open in comparison to other types of information including corruption, bribery, politics and governance, it is delivered to the readers directly. According to the survey result, 93.4 percent of total information is delivered directly and 6.6 percent indirectly (by quoting others). Issues related to natural resources and mineral deposits dominate among the indirectly provided information. Information balance and sources of information Environmental stories in daily newspapers have been analyzed from the perspective how the mutual influence between human beings and environment is presented. In the result we have found out that stories about negative affects of the environment on people dominate with 43.5 percent of all stories that touch the interrelation between people and nature. (For more detail, see Figure 4). 2 Share, calculated from the sum of total space of the environmental stories 3 Share, calculated from the total frequency of the environmental stories 14

15 Figure 4. Information equity on interrelations between the nature and people in the in daily newspapers (by percent) On negative environmental affects on the people On negative human affects on the environment Positive human action to the environment Positive environmental influence on people Series As of information sources, 79.3 percent of all environmental stories have a clearly identified information source, 11.7 percent has a hidden source (the source is identified in general and is quoted anonymously) and 3.3 percent has a secret source (the journalist does not mention the source, using phrases such as according to official source, as informed by a source, etc.) and 5.7 percent has no source (it was not clear at all whether the information is taken from a certain source or not). It is to mention, that in bigger articles and stories the use of information sources was relatively insufficient. Some quality assessments on the environmental stories Information of any kind will be of less efficiency, if its quality is insufficient even if it is published on a large space with high frequency. Within the frame of this survey we made a qualitative analysis on environmental reporting based on 12 criteria. First of all, these 12 variables can be referred to 3 factor groups as follows: First factor group includes variables such information composition, language style, easiness, harmonization between the size and content of the information etc. Second factor group includes variables such as attractiveness, importance of the information. Third group of factors includes variables whether information is well documented and whether technical, professional or other terms our used without explanation etc. 15

16 Figure 3. Some quality indices on the environment related information on the newspaper (positively) Information in harmony with the cont ent Simple and clear Refused from long quotes Timely Refused from unclear and long sentences Concrete word selection Well composed Based on particular facts Concrete information solution No technical terms without explanation Usefull Interesting Table 10. Genres and some quality indices of environmental stories in daily newspapers (Comparison on positive and negative meanings), abstracted form Quality indices Positive criteria Share Negative criteria Share Genres News Reports Articles Interviews Reportage Opinions /Discussion Content is simple and clear / harmonized scale and content Content is clear / based on particular facts Content and size well harmonized / based on particular facts Appropriate selection of words and quotes Simple and clear / based on particular facts Good word selection, no long sentences and technical terms Information rather not related with readers everyday life Not interesting enough to attract attention of the people Less efficient information Not interesting enough to attract attention of the people Information solution is not concrete Info is not directly related with readers needs and interests Investigative stories Efficient, with good solution, Insufficient composition

17 harmonized content and scale, in consistency with the period and based on facts According to the above data, news and opinions have advantages of being simple and clear, however they are assessed (by readers) relatively lower in terms of information significance. If we take into account, that news cover 61.6 percent of all environmental information, it is to consider how to deliver information, so that they are simple and clear and at the same time important for citizens. Table 11. Information type and some quality indices of the environmental stories in daily newspapers (by comparison of positive meaning) Information type Quality indices Simple and clear Interesting enough to attract attention of the people Importance of information Concrete solution Size and content appropriate Well composed Informative 98,6 4 59,6 50,3 93,6 97,8 97,8 Interpretative 94,6 73,6 82,6 89,2 95,7 90,1 Advertisement, direct warning 97,2 77,3 89,1 95,8 97,5 95,8 Educational 96,1 92,2 88,1 94,5 96,3 95,0 Quality indices Refused No technical from long Refused Based on Appropriate terms Actual/ Information and from long particular word selection without Timely type difficult quotations facts explanation sentences Informative 97,7 97,7 84,2 96,9 91,1 98,5 Interpretative 91,8 94,7 89,4 93,7 91,4 93,8 Advertisement, direct warning 96,9 95,7 75,2 97,5 97,1 95,4 Educational 95,7 92,6 89,3 95,4 96,8 93,5 Table 12. Some quality indices of the environmental stories in daily newspapers (by comparison of positive criteria) Unuudur Zuuny medee Udriin sonin Ardyn Erkh Ulaanbaatar times Unuudriin Mongol Simple and clear 97,5 100,0 77,8 97,9 100,0 100,0 Interesting 62,9 100,0 55,6 100,0 62,8 67,9 Important /affects immediate needs of citizens/ 64,2 98,1 55,6 90,3 79,8 79,5 Concrete solution 97,5 100,0 55,6 81,5 100,0 100,0 Size and content appropriate 100,0 99,4 79,0 87,5 100,0 100,0 Well composed 100,0 100,0 56,8 96,7 100,0 98,7 Concrete word selection 100,0 99,4 65,4 90,0 100,0 100,0 Refused from unclear and 97,5 99,4 70,4 100,0 100,0 100,0 4 It reads as follows: 96.8 percent of the environmental stories of informative nature were simple and clear and 1.4 percent was clear and understandable. 17

18 long sentences No technical terms without explanation 98,7 55,8 75,3 63,6 100,0 100,0 Refused from long quotes 97,5 98,7 75,3 100,0 100,0 100,0 Based on particular facts 94,3 86,5 86,4 100,0 98,4 97,4 Timely and actual 100,0 100,0 63,3 97,9 100,0 100,0 Average quality index of the environmental reporting in newspapers Average quality index of the environmental stories in 89.6 daily newspapers Based on the average quality indices of the environmental reporting 6 daily newspapers can be listed according to positive criteria as follows: 1. Unuudriin Mongol 2. Ulaanbaatar times 3. Zuuny medee 4. Unuudur 5. Ardyn erkh 6. Udriin sonin Conclusion of the section From the genres used in environmental stories News has the highest frequency (61.6 percent) and opinions /discussion is published on the biggest space. With regard to the quality of stories, criteria such as interesting, important for citizens are relatively insufficient in comparison to others. Provided that the environmental stories based on research materials (26.6 percent) and statistical data (10.6 percent) can be considered as well documented, such stories cover 37.2 percent. According to the survey result, 93.4 percent of total information is delivered directly and 6.6 percent indirectly. Issues related to natural resources and mineral deposits dominate among the indirectly provided information. In terms of information types, informative stories (without comments) have been considered /by readers/ as less useful, while educational stories reach readers well and are considered as appropriate to improve their knowledge and environmental awareness. As of stories that touch the interrelation between nature and people, stories about negative affects of the environment on people dominate with 43.5 percent. In 79.3 percent of all stories the information source has been clearly identified. Based on research criteria, the average quality of the environmental stories in daily newspapers can be quantitatively assessed by 89.6 out of 100 points. 18

19 Unuudriin Mongol and Ulaanbaatar times are relatively better than the others in terms of information quality. The majority of the environmental stories are written from the negative point of view. Over 70 percent of the total environmental information is placed on the first page; however, the majority of them are negative and sensational stories about natural catastrophes. The majority of environmental stories target at the general public. Appendix Research categories Target group (Whom the story targets): 1. Individuals 2. Children and youth 3. Politicians, state officials 4. Business, economic entities and private sector 5. General public Geographic coverage: 1. Local (Domestic towns, aimags, soums, districts, etc.) 2. Regional (Domestic-central, eastern, etc.) 3. National (Domestic-Nationwide) 4. International (Particular foreign country such USA, China, etc.) 5. Global Topic: 1. The environmental protection 2. Scarcity in wood and forest 3. Disposals 4. Air pollution 5. Soil pollution 6. Flora and fauna 7. State specially protected area (Natural reservation area, etc.) 8. Natural resources 9. Natural disaster 10. Toxic substance 11. Ozone layer 12. Desertification and soil eruption 13. Water pollution 14. Information related to climate change 15. Other Information tendency: 1. Positive (sowing with seed of tree, etc.) 2. Neutral 3. Negative (Tuj pines vanish, etc.) Story angle 1. Economic 19

20 2. Political 3. Social (health, education, law) 4. Morality (the environmental protection morality, consciousness and thinking influence, etc.) Qualitative criteria 1. Information delivered is simple and clear 2. Information is interesting enough to attract people attention 3. information is useful and important for readers 4. Information solution is concrete 5. Information size and content (issue raised) are in harmony 6. Story is well composed 7. Word selection is appropriate 8. Tends to avoid use of unclear and long sentences 9. No technical terms without explanation 10. Tends to refuse from long quotations 11. Based on particular facts 12. Timely and actual Information type: 1. Informative (e.g. News story about Earthquake, without comments etc.) 2. Interpretative (includes comments and suggestions, intends to find out solutions for an issue) 3. Advertisement and direct warning (Do not leave open fire and do not litter anywhere, etc.) 4. Educational (Animal planet, natural sight-seeing, etc.) Balance of information on interrelation between people and nature 1. Positive information on the significance of the environment for human life (On harvest, spa as a treatment, etc.) 2. Positive information on human activities related to the environment (On planting trees or cleaning litters, etc.) 3. Information on negative affects of the environment on the people (Natural disaster, flood, over-warming, etc.) 4. Information on negative human actions to the environment (Disposals, smoke, non recovered area, etc.) Scope of advertisement and direct warning 1. Scientific achievements related to the environment 2. Public advertisement 3. Possibility of being used in daily life 4. Cases of implementation in reality Transparency of information sources 1. Transparent source (name of the source is clearly stated) 2. Hidden source (the source is identified in general and is quoted anonymously) 3. Secret source (the journalist doesn t mention the source while using phrases such as according to official source, as informed by a source, etc.) 4. Unknown source (it was not clear at all whether the information is taken from a source or not). Genres 1. News 20

21 2. Report 3. Article 4. Interview 5. Portray 6. Letter 7. Reportage 8. Editorial 9. Opinion/Discussion 10. Investigative story Background materials / sources of information 1. Statistical data 2. Research materials 3. Quotes 4. Information from authorities 5. Observation 5. Other Methods of delivering the information to the public 1. Direct (1000 tress are planted in Bogd Mountain) 2. Indirect (to tell about representing traits rather than directly telling the issue, for example, Yusun zuil soum with 9 gem colors or Mr.Paushok s greediness, etc.) 21

22 THREE. Environmental reporting on TV I. Quantitative data on the environmental reporting on TV Volume of environmental reporting Statistics of the environmental stories broadcasted on the television during the period of a week can be shown as follows: Table 1. Frequency of environmental reporting per week Television Frequency Percent Mongolian National Television 18 10,3 Channel 25 television 30 17,2 TV5 television 28 16,1 TV9 television 23 13,2 UBS television 33 19,0 Eagle Broadcasting television 42 24,1 Total ,0 Table 2. Weekly broadcasting time of environmental reporting (by minutes) Television Average length Total Arithmetic Median length 5 average Mongolian National Television Minimum length Maximum length 4,57 1, Channel 25 television 1,03, TV5 television 2,00 1, TV9 television 10,28 9, UBS television 4,64 2, Eagle Broadcasting television 5,97 2, Total 4,65 2, During the period of a week a total of 174 environmental stories have been broadcast. Eagle broadcasting television transmits environmental stories with the highest frequency (42), followed by UBS television (33), Channel 25 Television (30), TV5 television (28), TV9 television (23) and Mongolian National Television (18). In terms of the total length of environment reporting on all televisions, a total of 809 minutes or 13.5 hours of environmental stories have been broadcast per week. Out of this time, 251 minutes (4.2 hours) was transmitted on Eagle Broadcasting television, 237 minutes (3.9 hours) on TV9, 153 minutes (2.5 hours) on UBS, 82 minutes (1.4 hour) on 5 In sociology, average data are presented in arithmetic average, modulation and median. Modulation is the highest frequency period and median implies the time that results from dividing the total frequency of the environmental stories into two equal parts. For example, if the environmental story is broadcast for 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 minutes respectively, its modulation will be 1, median will be 2 and arithmetic average will be ( )/5=2.2 22

23 the Mongolian National Television, 56 minutes (0.9 hour) on TV5 television and 31 minutes (0.5 hour) on Channel 25. The majority of environmental stories are news stories of 1-2 minutes (82.2 percent) educational programs take 3.4 percent, environmental stories for children and youth take 1.7 percent, serious talk -s from social and political perspective takes 6.9 percent, documentary films 4 percent and advertisements 1.7 percent. Except advertisements and news stories, single environmental reporting takes between 4 and 16 minutes. Table 3. Program types, by television (frequency) Television Mongolian National Television Children and youths Education News Serious talk Documentary Ad Other Channel 25 television 30 0 TV5 television TV9 television UBS television Eagle Broadcasting television Total While Eagle Broadcasting television broadcasts news stories on environmental issues with the highest frequency, TV9 and UBS prefer children and youths, educational formats, d Table 4. Number of environmental stories during the sample week Month/Day I/18 I/19 I/20 I/21 I/22 I/23 I/24 I/25 Television Days Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Mongolian National Television Channel 25 television TV5 television TV9 television UBS television Eagle Broadcasting television Based on this data, the share of the environmental reporting in the weekly programming has been calculated. 23

24 Table 5. Share of the environmental reporting in the weekly programming Average broadcasting hour s per week Average broadcasting minutes per week Average broadcasting hours per day Average broadcasting minutes per day Average length of environmental reporting per week Average length environmental reporting per day Share of the environmental reporting in the weekly programming Mongolian National Television 114, ,4 984,9 82,3 11,8 1,2 Channel 25 television ,9 1011,4 30,8 4,4 0,4 TV5 television 118, ,9 1013,1 56,0 8,0 0,8 TV9 television ,0 1440,0 236,5 33,8 2,3 UBS television 121, ,3 1038,0 153,0 21,9 2,1 Eagle Broadcasting television ,0 1440,0 250,7 35,8 2,5 Figure 1. Share of the environmental reporting in the weekly programming Channel 25 television TV5 television Mongolian National UBS television TV9 television Eagle television Series Environmental reporting takes an average of 1.6 percent in the total weekly programming of televisions. Since the dominating format of environmental reporting on TV is news story, Eagle Broadcasting, the news channel, takes the first range according to frequency of environmental reporting. Television. Content and tendency of the environmental reporting Similarly to newspaper reporting, environmental stories with negative tendency such as stories about environmental problems including forest fire, water and air pollutions due to improper human actions, global warming, desertification and animal diseases in recent years, dominate in the environmental reporting on TV with 55 percent. Positive coverage takes 39.2 percent, and neutral stories cover 5.8 percent. 24

25 In terms of the topics, information related to the natural disasters such as flood, dzoud, drought, hurricane, volcano exploitation and earthquake cover the greatest or 22.7 percent and those related to wild animals and the environmental protection cover 19.4 percent percent refer to information on animals and livestock, 9.7 percent to mineral deposits and mining and 6.9 percent to geographical region and wild nature. (For more detail, see the Table 6). N.B: Positive information includes those on disasters, city pollutions and disposals, for instance, to clean disposals and wastes of roads, bridges, streets, rivers, etc. Table 6. Content and tendency of environmental stories on TV (Multiple responses) Information content Tendency Positive Negative Neutral Total percent 1 Stories on natural disasters ,7 2 Wild animal and nature protection ,4 3 Animal and livestock ,8 4 Mineral resources and deposits ,7 5 Geographical region and wild nature ,9 6 Toxic substance 4 7 5,1 7 Ecological balance ,2 8 Water and water pollution ,2 9 City pollution and disposals 5 3 3,7 10 Forest and deforestation 5 1 2,8 11 Climate changes 4 1,9 12 Air pollution 3 1,4 13 Reserved area and region 1 2 1,4 14 Related to land, soil and desertification 1 2 1,4 15 Ozone layer 1 0,5 Total share Target group and geographical coverage of the environmental stories The target group of the dominating majority of environmental stories is the general public. 5.8 percent target at particular social groups, 3.5 percent at state authorities and legal organizations, 2.3 percent at private sectors, and 1.8 percent at NGO-s percent of the environmental stories cover foreign countries, 15.2 percent several countries (or regions), 10.5 percent are stories of global nature and 26.6 percent are domestic news. Environmental stories covering foreign countries are mostly about natural disasters, wild animals and the need for their environmental protection, toxic substance, water scarcity and pollution and ecological balance while domestic stories refer to mineral deposits their mining, livestock and animal, city pollutions as well as disposals. 25

26 Table 7. Topics and geographical coverage of environmental stories on TV (Multiple responses) Topics Geographical coverage Local Regional National One particular foreign country International Global 1 2 Information related to natural disasters Wild animal and nature protection Animal and livestock Mineral resources and deposits Geographical region and wild nature Toxic substance Ecological balance Water and water pollution City pollution and disposals Forest and deforestation Climate changes Air pollution Reserved area and region Related to land, soil and desertification Ozone layer 1 1 Total share Story angle and type of environmental stories 33.8 percent of the environmental stories have been produced from the perspective of health and 21.2 percent is from economic point of view. Figure 2. Tendency of the environmental stories on TV 26

27 Health Economy Livelihood Globalization and human National heritage Politics 1st Qtr Among others, TV stories on natural disasters including air pollution, earthquake, hurricane, flood, etc. are produced from the perspective of health and natural resources and mineral deposits are touched from economic and political angles. As of types of programs, informative stories take 74.3 percent, interpretative stories 12.3 percent, ad and direct warning 7.0 percent and educational programs 6.4 percent. Table 8. Form of the environmental stories (by percent) Mongolian National Television Channel 25 television TV5 television TV9 television UBS television Eagle Broadcasting television Total Informative Interpretative Advertisement and direct warning Education Total ,2% 16,7% 11,1% 100,0% ,3% 6,7% 100,0% ,4% 3,6% 7,1% 17,9% 100,0% ,0% 34,8% 30,4% 21,7% 100,0% ,7% 6,1% 21,2% 100,0% ,0% 100,0% ,3% 6,4% 7,0% 12,3% 100,0% Eagle Broadcasting transmits 100 percent informative stories, while TV9 uses all different types relatively equally. Conclusion of the section During the period of a week, a total of 174 environmental stories have been broadcast on 6 televisions, including Eagle broadcasting television, UBS, Channel 25, TV5, TV9 and Mongolian National Television. 27

28 The environmental reporting takes an average of 1.6 percent in the total weekly programming of televisions. The dominating majority of environmental stories are news of 1-2 minutes (82.2 percent). educational programs take 3.4 percent, children and youths programs 1.7 percent, serious talks from social and political perspectives for 6.9 percent, documentary films 4 percent and advertisements 1.7 percent Eagle Broadcasting television broadcasts environmental stories with the highest frequency and TV9 uses all different types of programs equally in order to disseminate environmental stories. Environmental stories with negative tendency such as stories about environmental problems including forest fire, water and air pollutions due to improper human actions, global warming, desertification and animal diseases in recent years, dominate in the environmental reporting on TV with 55 percent. Positive coverage takes 39.2 percent and neutral stories cover 5.8 percent. In terms of the topics, information related to the natural disasters such as flood, dzoud, drought, hurricane, volcano exploitation and earthquake cover the greatest or 22.7 percent and those related to wild animals and the environmental protection cover 19.4 percent percent refer to information on animals and livestock, 9.7 percent to mineral deposits and mining and 6.9 percent to geographical region and wild nature. The main target group of environmental stories is the public in general (86.5 percent) percent of the environmental stories have been produced from the perspective of health and 21.2 percent is from economic point of view. II. Analysis of environmental reporting from journalistic perspective. Some quality assessments of the environment reporting Within the frame of the project, the quality of environmental stories have been analyzed from the perspective, whether the stories are written clear and understandable, whether they are interesting enough to attract people s attention, whether they are useful, whether the length of stories is in consistency with the content, whether they raise issue, etc. In the result we came to conclusion, that the environmental reporting on televisions is in comparison to newspaper reporting relatively clearer in content and more simple and usually also interesting enough to attract people s attention. However, the majority of stories lack of direct relation with citizen s interests and needs, since the majority of environmental stories are about natural disasters in other countries. 28

29 Figure 3. Quality assessments of environmental reporting on TV (Multiple responses) Story simple and clear Interesting enough to attract public attention Sufficient producing of the program Story length in harmony with the content Program type appropriate with the issue raised Usefulness of the program Table 9. The quality of environmental reporting, by program types Quality criteria Program types Story is simple and understandable Interesting enough to attract public attention Sufficient producing of the program Program length is in harmony with the issue raised Choice of the program type appropriate with the issue raised Usefulness of the story for citizens Children and youth Education News Serious talk programs Documentary Total % 22.7% 32.7% 12.5% 54.5% 31.1% % 18.2% 23.4% 45.8% 18.2% 24.3% % 18.2% 16.8% 12.5% 0% 16.1% % 13.6% 10.6% 8.3% 0% 10.1% % 13.6% 9.6% 8.3% 18.2% 9.8% % 13.6% 6.9% 12.5% 9.1% 8.5% Total 1.6% 6.0% 82.8% 6.6% 3.0% 100.0% The above data show, e.g. that mostly news stories and documentaries are more simple and understandable, while talk programs from social and political perspectives have been evaluated as more interesting. 29