Environmental Crisis and the Role of Media

Environmental concerns are increasingly relevant to everyone, and an informed public is a critical ingredient in the necessary practical steps and policy changes needed to alleviate the developing crisis. Environmental issues have become more entwined as communication technologies proliferate. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the media dynamics with reference to the environmental issues alarmingly challenging to human continued survival. The scientists are disturbed for its insecurity, mis-governance, degradation, management and conservation which have gradually come to capture the centre stage. At this juncture, the role of media becomes pertinent in spreading environmental awareness and making the public aware of the formidable crisis looming large over our heads. Although environmental problems are typically discovered by scientists but it is media that often play a central role in disseminating information, influencing people's attitude and promoting public awareness. Media are the cornerstone of any public opinion and acts as a catalyst for change.The ultimate objective of this paper is to find the most decisive factors in creating awareness since this is the first step in developing effective campaigns to promote and protect the integrity of the natural environment for prosperity amongst the population. This paper is an attempt to review the meaning of environment education, its aims and objectives, and ways of promoting environmental awareness in the society.A major challenge to environmental reporting is how to convey complex concepts and impart a sense of the urgency of these challenges in a way that engages the reader .The paper also explores the evolving field of environmental journalism which prefers objectivity over advocacy (Sachsman, 2006:112) with utmost professionalism and scientific information. There is a need for more accurate and unbiased reporting in framing and forming some of the main determinants of public opinion. Sociologist Gaye Tuchman(1978) argues that the news reconstruct social world and are a window to the world, determining, what we want to know, what we have to know and what we should know. Vineet Kaul"Environmental Crisis and the Role of Media" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-1 | Issue-4 , June 2017, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd2217.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/other-scientific-research-area/other/2217/environmental-crisis-and-the-role-of-media/vineet-kaul