A Comparison Between Environmental Reports In Chinese And American Media

According to Michael Frome, an experienced American environmental reporter and professor, Environmental Journalism is "the kind of report covering environmental issues for the public based on accurate information and materials, with inside investigation."Since environmental problems are getting more and more attention, and with the environmental journalism in China gradually growing after a relatively late start, this paper aims to investigate in the similarities and differences between Chinese and American newspaper in covering environmental news. The research selected The People's Daily and The New York Times for each country and compares the news coverage by focusing on the reports on the oil spill issue. Based on frame analysis method, by using the literature analysis and content analysis, the research aims to shed light on the differences between the coverage on the event on the two newspapers. The paper first introduces the origin of this study,sorting out problems and research method,then summarizes the status of our country's environment and environment report and sums up the characteristic and the shortage of environment report study. The main part of this paper is to make frame analysis in three dimensions on the environment report and make detailed explorations.It is showed that the two newspapers have both similarities and huge differences in macro or micro perspectives. With the environmental problem getting more severe, and the environmental journalism keep progressing, it will be quite beneficial and crucial to learn from other countries' experiences, which The New York Times has just offered a lot. For example, it would explore the issue with a perspective of the common public, which delivered a more intuitive image for the readers while getting them acknowledged about the link between a remote environmental issue and the people. Besides, The New York Times had more direct quotations of governors, institutions, company representatives, etc., which enhanced not only the balance but also the readability of the report. Having governors talking directly in the report might also be helpful to the construction of a better communication environment between the government and the citizens.