An Initial Study On Influence Factors Of The Production Of Environmental News In China

Applying the research approach of news production sociology ,the study employes content analysis and observation participation as the methods to examine the features of China Environmental News ;while field study and in-depth interviews with journalists and editors are used to verify from subjects' experiences the various forces that might cause the trends.By analysing the contexts, it explores the environmental news in the part organ were mainly reported by administrative means. The government's environmental policies, actions and acheivements are the most common contents. Governmental bodies and officials are the main news sources of the reports on environment,, who also play the roles of guidance and news producers.The investigation reveals that some factors affect the environmental news, and how they do. Firstly, the dominant factor that affects the news reports is the government's news policies, which are authoritatively and must be obeyed. It's very different from the West that the affect of the government is direct and important. Secondly, the organizational control of newsroom directly constructs news patterns. The policy of media determines the skeleton of reports, which responds the government policy. Thirdly, during the process of manufacturing the environmental news, the relationship between journalists and sources affects the quality of news coverage of the environment. Some persons and organization become strong sources, and are the primary definiteness of news, which is called "source bias". According to the study, news sources could be the primary definiteness in the news reporting. But in other types of journalism, especially in features and news stories, the journalists and newsroom define the reports. Fourthly, there is a conventional story line in the news routines that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news. For example, news beats bring a trend of bureaucratism in newswriting. The environmental news of the part organ emphasize the principles of positive publicity, and there are not a diverse preferences for conflicting. Last, the journalism's occupational norms are existed in the process of making environmental news, but face constraints from various forces, and reveal itself in a fragmented and localized form.