The changing nature of environmental discourse: An exploratory comparison of environmental journalists and bloggers

In this study we present an exploratory comparison of environmental journalists and environmental bloggers. Using a web survey, we compared environmental journalists and bloggers across a range of different variables that the literature shows matter in understanding the environmental discussions that they produce. This study offers important insights about the people behind the mediated messages we get about the environment. We found that environmental journalists and environmental bloggers are similar and different at the same time. They have the same level of concern and perceived knowledge about the environment. But they also conceive of different roles in society and source their information differently. We discuss the implications of these findings on the evolving nature of environmental reporting and discourse.