Geo-Community Media and Its Prospects for Environmental Stewardship
Author(s)
Foxwell-Norton, Kerrie-Ann
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2017
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
For well over four decades, a critical element in formal policy statements and discussions focussed on the abatement of environmental threats and imminent crises has been the participation of local communities. Throughout these discussions, stewardship of local environments is oft-cited as part of the arsenal necessary to address global environmental issues, and to thwart the people and planetary devastation heralded by climate change. While the intention to incite community participation in environmental management and decision-making has been consistent, overall the results have been underwhelming. This paper will explore ...
View more >For well over four decades, a critical element in formal policy statements and discussions focussed on the abatement of environmental threats and imminent crises has been the participation of local communities. Throughout these discussions, stewardship of local environments is oft-cited as part of the arsenal necessary to address global environmental issues, and to thwart the people and planetary devastation heralded by climate change. While the intention to incite community participation in environmental management and decision-making has been consistent, overall the results have been underwhelming. This paper will explore the possibilities of ‘geo-community media’ in developing and/or supporting local environmental stewardship in an era of unprecedented climate and other environmental crises that threaten communities and their places. This paper builds on previous scholarship that has emphasised the importance of ‘place’ in journalism, media and communications marrying this work to its prospects for environmental communication. I use the term ‘geo-community media’ to draw attention to the broadcast of culture/nature relations by journalists who are embedded physically, socially and culturally in the places that are inhabited by their audiences. That is, to be here and communicate understandings of ‘homes’ and the specificities of environmental issues as they relate to geographies. Geo-community media includes all media –independent, alternative, citizens, public, social and corporate – that communicate local relations to local environments. Within this media can be identified different types of communication, journalism, ownership structures and themes. Investigations of geo-community media, their prospects -and possible pitfalls -must be local and contextual to understand the nuances of communities and their relationships to their environments. In this paper, I explore a local environmental issue surrounding a proposed development that occurred in a small coastal village on the east coast of Australia. Using a case study approach, combined with a qualitative content analysis of a critical moment in this local environmental issue, I explore the capacity of this local media to foster environmental stewardship. Despite their relatively marginal status, this geo-community media has the potential to both assist environmental policy ambitions of community participation and critically, to challenge the relations between ourselves and our places that are unsustainable.
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View more >For well over four decades, a critical element in formal policy statements and discussions focussed on the abatement of environmental threats and imminent crises has been the participation of local communities. Throughout these discussions, stewardship of local environments is oft-cited as part of the arsenal necessary to address global environmental issues, and to thwart the people and planetary devastation heralded by climate change. While the intention to incite community participation in environmental management and decision-making has been consistent, overall the results have been underwhelming. This paper will explore the possibilities of ‘geo-community media’ in developing and/or supporting local environmental stewardship in an era of unprecedented climate and other environmental crises that threaten communities and their places. This paper builds on previous scholarship that has emphasised the importance of ‘place’ in journalism, media and communications marrying this work to its prospects for environmental communication. I use the term ‘geo-community media’ to draw attention to the broadcast of culture/nature relations by journalists who are embedded physically, socially and culturally in the places that are inhabited by their audiences. That is, to be here and communicate understandings of ‘homes’ and the specificities of environmental issues as they relate to geographies. Geo-community media includes all media –independent, alternative, citizens, public, social and corporate – that communicate local relations to local environments. Within this media can be identified different types of communication, journalism, ownership structures and themes. Investigations of geo-community media, their prospects -and possible pitfalls -must be local and contextual to understand the nuances of communities and their relationships to their environments. In this paper, I explore a local environmental issue surrounding a proposed development that occurred in a small coastal village on the east coast of Australia. Using a case study approach, combined with a qualitative content analysis of a critical moment in this local environmental issue, I explore the capacity of this local media to foster environmental stewardship. Despite their relatively marginal status, this geo-community media has the potential to both assist environmental policy ambitions of community participation and critically, to challenge the relations between ourselves and our places that are unsustainable.
View less >
Conference Title
International Association of Media and Communications Research Annual Conference
Publisher URI
Subject
Other earth sciences
Communication and media studies