Standards for Covering Environmental Issues and Related Challenges in Regional Media

ანოტაცია

The state of covering environmental issues in Georgian media is unfavorable. The number of published topics in the ecological sphere is limited, and the content that does appear does not aim at a deep understanding of the issues. Media outlets typically confine themselves to providing short news updates, which hinders the search for solutions to the ongoing environmental crises.

The aim of the present paper is to examine the standards of environmental coverage and to analyze the work of regional media in
the field of environmental reporting, as well as to identify the problems associated with it. Among the diverse media landscape in Georgia, online media outlets were selected as the objects of study, as they play a decisive role in raising public awareness and disseminating scientific knowledge in the digital era, particularly against the backdrop of environmental crises. The research examines four online media outlets operating in Western Georgia and analyses the share of environmental topics within their overall media output. Based on content analysis, the forms and structure of information delivery were identified. Relying on criteria recognized in the scientific field, the study highlights important results and their implications. Consequently, international practices and the perspectives of scholars specializing in environmental journalism are taken into account.

Drawing on the available scientific knowledge on environmental media coverage, the paper introduces several new insights intended to promote both deeper public awareness and the activation of preventive functions. The main finding is of a recommendatory nature: the current trend of environmental reporting requires revision, which implies a shift in media emphasis from news-style coverage of the adverse impacts of climate change toward the production of analytical material.