This document discusses a study on integrating environmental journalism into university curriculums. Researchers surveyed 210 Spanish journalism students about their views on nuclear power before and after watching news broadcasts that framed a new nuclear waste facility either positively by focusing on job creation or negatively by focusing on protests. After class discussion and being encouraged to research more, over half of the students originally against the facility or nuclear power in general did not change their views except when the positive job-creation framing was shown. The research highlighted the need to include energy issues in journalism education due to the extensive research required. However, the study could have been improved by being longitudinal and including more news broadcasts and topics for discussion.

1. Environmental
journalism as
area of
specialization in
university
classrooms
Kaitlyn Rieper
Abstract #2

2. Introduction
– Environmental journalism is a relatively new subject and is being
integrated into a few university journalism programs
– Questions being asked:
– How do you define environmental journalism?
– “journalistic section that deals with all those news related to Nature and its
defense” or “exercise or specialized journalism that deals with the information
generated by the interaction of man or living beings with their environment or the
environment itself”
– Is it really necessary to include in curriculum?
– How are environmental issues framed in news?

3. Methodology
– Background:
– A new nuclear waste containment facility (ATC) was being built by Spain
– A lot of news broadcasts were being done on the construction
– Researchers believed that energy issues should be its own specialization due to how major
it is in environmental journalism and how much information one would need to know
– Surveyed 210 journalism students from 3 different universities in Spain about their
feelings on nuclear power
– Then had them watch 1 of 2 news broadcasts, one framing the ATC as creating jobs
and the other on protests against the construction
– Then they engaged in a class debate and discussion, and students were encouraged
to seek out more information
– Students were asked again their views on nuclear energy

4. Results & Discussion
– Over half of the students originally said they were against the construction of
the ATC and half said they thought nuclear energy should be removed from
Spain completely
– Only the broadcast framing the ATC as creating jobs was effective in changing
minds on the matter
– Most of the students said they were unfamiliar with information regarding
nuclear energy
– Ultimately, the research created a good discussion and basis for showing
students that reporting on energy issues takes a lot of research

5. Critique
– This study would have worked better as a longitudinal study on the classes and
students to compare beginning and ending views on environmental topics and
reporting
– I think that more than just 2 broadcasts should have been shown to the
students and that each one should have been watched as a way to facilitate
more discussion on framing of energy issues
– Despite the issue of nuclear energy being close to home for the students, I think
that due to Chernobyl nuclear energy will always be a difficult subject that most
people will feel uneasy about. Therefore, I don’t think it was the best choice of
topic for deciding how students viewed an environmental topic.

6. Sáez, M.,Teresa Mercado, Castillo, S. S., & de, l. C. (2014). El periodismo ambiental
como área de especialización en las aulas universitarias/Environmental journalism
as area of specialization in university classrooms. Historia y Comunicación
Social, 19, 213-226. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.baylor.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/165097
7553?accountid=7014