A "State of Environment Coverage" survey report prepared for an independent provider of news material to commercial broadcast news media paints a generally discouraging picture of the prospects for increased environmental coverage by commercial and cable TV.

The report points to "profound changes in the media" in recent years, combined with the changing nature of environmental issues, as leading to "a decline in the amount and salience of environment coverage" on commercial broadcast and cable TV. In the 34 years since the first international Earth Day in 1970, "the environment beat has been transformed from exciting news about a new movement" to stories now "more complicated and difficult" and often characterized by "complex science."

"In a world of 'live, local, and late breaking' news," writes researcher Eva Spiegel for the American Communications Foundation (ACF) of Mill Valley, CA., "environment stories of today lack the qualities that appeal to news managers, newsroom consulants, and advertisers." Spiegel reports that many environmental reporters find their colleagues characterizing the beat as being "DBI – dull but important."

With less time and money available to cover the environment and other stories in the post-9/11 climate of terrorism, TV outlets find themselves with "fewer reporters and fewer bureaus ... no longer have the resources to cover the environment."

Pointing to how environmental issues have evolved over the past three-plus decades, Spiegel wrote that the problems "now are less conspicuous than they were" in earlier years ... more global, more complex, more nuances, more long-term, and more difficult to form into a 'story' or even describe as an issue."

"It's hard to bring a sense of urgency to an issue with consequences that will not be felt for 10 or 20 years," she wrote.

Based on her literature search, analyses of recent media reports, and interviews with a range of environmental journalism experts, Spiegel points also to various other factors:

• reporters' workloads have increased in recent years, Spiegel says by about 20 percent;
• many news managers view the beat "as being somewhat liberal or as having an agenda, causing them to be resistant to story pitches";
• reporters need "a great deal of specialized training to cover the beat," but "are not given the time or resources" to attend training programs;
• TV "enterprise" stories are rare;
• "Consolidation of major media outlets into fewer and fewer hands has had an impact," and the report says environmental activists suspect "outright censorship" to avoid stories that "challenge a network's ideology or corporate self interest;
• No less important than the shortage of environmental coverage is "the lack of depth, context, and salience" of what coverage there is.

Addressing steps that might lead to increased TV and cable coverage of environmental issues, Spiegel offers some comments reporters on the beat likely are to have heard often:

"Everyone interested in this subject must give the 'who cares?' factor serious attention. What will make the average viewer care about a story on what is happening either in another country or ten years from now? It is not useful to say they 'should' care. The fact is that Americans have a finite amount of time, energy, money and attention to devote to issues, even to those that have a direct and immediate impact on their lives."

She writes that, "radio is far more receptive, cheaper, and easier as a method to transmit this kind of information," and concludes her report by suggesting several areas deserving additional analysis:

• What would it take to convince news managers to cover more stories that are vital to society's well being and fewer stories about crime, celebrities, and entertainment?
• What kind of support could be given to reporters and news managers that they could actually use and would actually use?
• What is the best way to provide environmental information to the public? Is it TV, radio, cable TV, newspapers, public broadcasting?
• How should nonprofit groups work in the environmental media field, and what resources do they need to succeed?
• Should a "major conference" be held to weigh these issues, a meeting involving commercial news managers, funders, reporters, and nonprofit groups?

The American Communications Foundation is a private foundation-funded, nonpartisan and nonprofit group helping commercial broadcast news media cover complex and underreported issues. Since 1995, the group has provided programming for Charles Osgood's daily CBS radio program "The Osgood File."

ACF is funded by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; The Lilly Endowment; The Pew Charitable Trusts; The Surdna Foundation; and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.* ACF also lists among its current funders the now-defunct W. Alton Jones Foundation.