Public opinion, the media, and environmental policy: Agenda-setting, framing, and maintaining the status quo

Contributing to the research on the topic of the media, public opinion, and public policy, this research investigated the question: Given the environment's relatively bipartisan backing and the public's support for a stronger environmental protection agenda, how can an environmental policy direction apparently incongruent with public opinion be maintained?;The method of answering this larger question was to examine the dynamic among public opinion, the media, and environmental policy, focusing specifically on the media's agenda-setting and framing functions. This dynamic was explored through a three part methodology: by looking at the amounts of environmental policy media coverage over the last 24 years, by closely examining the frames of two policy exemplars within that coverage (the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Roadless Rule] and the Kyoto Protocol), and by exploring representations of the public and public opinion in environmental policy coverage.;The findings from Part I indicate that environmental policy has not occupied a consistent place on the news agenda, especially on the network news agenda. Analysis of the exemplar coverage in Part II found that various forms of conflict are frequently the primary focus in the coverage, rather than the policy itself. These conflict frames lead to coverage that often emphasizes a false dichotomy between environmental protection and the economy. Part III found that environmental policy poll results were rarely reported in the media, and that poll questions regarding the Kyoto Protocol reflected frames similar to those in the news coverage.