This study is an analysis of environmental content on New Zealand-produced television. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis was undertaken of 140 hours of programming, across all genres, from four New Zealand television channels. Programmes were analysed for the prevalence of environmental content, which specific topics were mentioned and how the environment was positioned in relation to the programme’s narrative. The study found that television’s attention to the environment is relatively infrequent, with a diverse range of issues and perspectives. While these portrayals were almost always positive towards the environment, they were frequently linked to consumerist values, positioned as separate from everyday reality and were generally supportive of the social and political status quo. An exception to this was programming aimed at Māori audiences, where environmental issues were linked to traditional cultural knowledge and the natural world was of more relevance to everyday life.
Allan S. ( 2002) Media, Risk and Science. Buckingham : Open University Press.
2.
Anderson A. ( 1997) Media, Culture and the Environment. London: UCL Press.
3.
Boykoff M. ( 2008) Lost in translation? United States television news coverage of anthropogenic climate change, 1995-2004. Climatic Change86(1): 1-11.
4.
Boykoff M., Goodman M. and Curtis I. ( 2009) Cultural politics of climate change: Interactions in everyday spaces. In: Boykoff M (ed.) The Politics of Climate Change: A Survey. New York: Routledge, 136-154.
5.
Carvalho A. ( 2007) Ideological cultures and media discourses on scientific knowledge: Re-reading news on climate change. Public Understanding of Science16(2): 223-243.
6.
Corbett J. ( 2006) Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages. Washington, DC: Island Press.
7.
Cottle S. ( 1993) Mediating the environment: Modalities of TV news. In: Hansen A (ed.) The Mass Media and Environmental Issues. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 107-133.
8.
Cottle S. ( 2000) TV news, lay voices and the visualisation of environmental risks. In: Allan S, Adam B and Carter C (eds) Environmental Risks and the Media. London: Routledge, 29-44.
9.
Delli Carpini M. and Williams B. ( 1994a) ‘Fictional’ and ‘non-fictional’ television celebrates earth day: or, politics is comedy plus pretense. Cultural Studies8(1): 74-98.
10.
Delli Carpini M. and Williams B. ( 1994b) Methods, metaphors, and media research: The uses of television in political conversations. Communication Research21(6): 782-812.
11.
Dunleavy T. ( 2004) Made in New Zealand: The genre of television drama. In: Horrocks R and Perry N (eds) Television in New Zealand: Programming the Nation . Melbourne: Oxford University Press , 203-221.
12.
Fulton H. ( 2005) The power of narrative. In: Fulton H (ed.) Narrative and Media. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1-7.
13.
Good J.(2009) The cultivation, mainstreaming, and cognitive processing of environmentalists watching television. Environmental Communication3(3): 279-297.
14.
Hannigan J. ( 2006) Environmental Sociology, 2nd edn. New York: Routledge.
15.
Holbert R., Kwak N. and Shah D. ( 2003) Environmental concern, patterns of television viewing, and pro-environmental behaviors: Integrating models of media consumption and effects. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media47(2): 177-196.
16.
Horrocks R. ( 2002) Conflicts and surprises in New Zealand television. In: Farnsworth J and Hutchison I (eds) New Zealand Television: A Reader. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 245-259.
17.
Horrocks R. ( 2004) Studying New Zealand television: Themes, methods, perspectives . In: Horrocks R and Perry N (eds) Television in New Zealand: Programming the Nation. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 5-19.
18.
Krippendorff K. ( 2004) Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
19.
Lester L. and Cottle S.(2009) Visualizing climate change: Television news and ecological citizenship . International Journal of Communication3: 920-936.
20.
Lewis J. and Boyce T. ( 2009) Climate change and the media: The scale of the challenge . In: Boyce T and Lewis J (eds) Climate Change and the Media . London: Peter Lang, 3-16.
21.
Lowe P. and Morrison D. ( 1984) Bad news or good news: Environmental politics and the mass media. Sociological Review32(1): 75-90.
22.
McKibben B. ( 1992) The Age of Missing Information. New York: Random House.
23.
Meadows D. ( 1991) Changing the world through the informationsphere. In: LaMay C and Dennis E (eds) Mass Media and the Environment. Washington, DC: Island Press, 67-79.
24.
Nztbc. (2010) Time Spent Viewing . Available at: www.nztbc.co.nz/research/story.php?story=story_time_spent_viewing.inc
25.
Shanahan J. ( 1993) Television and the cultivation of environmental concern: 1988-92. In: Hansen A (ed.) The Mass Media and Environmental Issues. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 181- 197.
26.
Shanahan J. and McComas K. ( 1999) Nature Stories: Depictions of the Environment and their Effects. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
27.
Shape NZ ( 2008) New Zealanders’ Views on Climate Change and Emissions Trading. Available at: www.nzbcsd.org.nz/story.asp?id=865
28.
Spellerberg I., Buchan G. and Early N. ( 2006) Television and environmental sustainability: Arguing a case for a code of standards in New Zealand. Pacific Journalism Review12(2): 137-147.
29.
Stamm K., Clark F. and Eblacas P. ( 2000) Mass communication and public understanding of environmental problems: The case of global warming. Public Understanding of Science9: 219- 237.
30.
Statistics New Zealand. (2008) New Zealand: An Urban/Rural Profile Update. Available at: www.stats.govt.nz/statistics-by-area/urban-rural-profiles/default.htm
31.
Ungar S. ( 2000) Why climate change is not in the air: Popular culture and the whirlwind effect. Paper presented to Climate Change Communication Conference, June. Available at: www.fes.uwaterloo.ca/research/climateconference/A2.pdf
32.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2009 ) A Core Set of Global Environmental Indicators. Available at: geodata.grid.unep.ch/download/InfoGraphic%20-%20GEO%20Indicators.pdf .
33.
Wilkins L. ( 2000) Was El Niño a weather metaphor - a signal for global warming? In: Chagnon S (ed.) El Niño, 1997-1998: The Climate Event of the Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 49-67.
