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CONTENTS: IN DEPTH IN DEPTH SURVEY: BARRIERS TO INFO MOST
COMMON PROBLEM Difficulty in obtaining information is the most commonly cited barrier
for journalists who want to cover environmental stories in Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE), according to a survey of Green Horizon readers. The
next most commonly cited obstacle to giving good environmental coverage is
"difficulty in making stories relevant to readers," according to
the survey. An analysis of their needs and interests also indicates a hunger for information about the environment of this region. Of the 56 respondents to the survey, 19 (34 percent) gave their profession as journalists and three (5 percent) said they were communications professionals. There were also 15 (27 percent) who listed their profession as environmental professionals, six (about 11 percent) who said they are NGO activists and five (9 percent) who said they are academics. Some of the respondents listed multiple professions, or indicated that they are also sometimes involved in journalism. The first profession they listed was the one used for the purposes of analysing the survey. Out of those responding to the survey who have been involved in any kind of journalism, the majority said they had worked in print, followed by electronic media, like the internet, and then broadcast. Many reported that they worked for more than one type of media. Seventy percent of the journalists responding to the survey said that their main area of coverage is environmental news. But regardless of their specialty or full-time profession, all the respondents who answered a question about their attitude toward environmental coverage said they believe that environmental issues are important and that readers need to be better informed. Many also indicated that they would cover more environmental stories if the information were more readily available. The problem of obtaining information was addressed in another question. When asked, "What do you feel are the greatest barriers to environmental coverage?" the respondents, who were allowed to choose more than one answer, replied as follows:
With regard to sources of information about the CEE environment, respondents named several. The most common source of information was "other electronic publications," (aside from Green Horizon) named by 14 respondents, followed by "Green Horizon," named by 12 respondents, and news wires, named by 10 respondents. Of the journalists who use Green Horizon for information, 10 respondents said they had used information from Green Horizon to produce at least one story. Some said they had only used it for one or two stories, others said more than 10 stories and one said "tens" of stories. But Green Horizon readers clearly do not only subscribe to the newsletter as a source of story ideas. When asked why they read Green Horizon, 10 respondents chose to answer "I am a journalist, and I use it to get story ideas," while 14 respondents said "I am a journalist, and I use it to stay informed about environmental issues." But the majority (35, or 63 percent) chose: "I am interested in CEE environmental news, but not necessarily story ideas." As might be expected, the 14 respondents who took the time to add
additional comments generally had something positive to say. Among the
comments were the following: One question targeting journalists was: "What sort of environmental stories do you find that you cover most often?" Respondents replied as follows:
STORIES JOURNALISTS WANT TO COVER But when asked "What sort of environmental stories would you *like* to cover?" the responses were:
Copyright 2000 by the Regional Environmental Center for Central
and Eastern Europe Funded by the European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. |
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