Features of media coverage of air pollution problems in Russian cities

Abstract

The aim of the research is to compare Russian cities with recorded cases of high air pollution in 2015–2018 based on the specifics of media coverage of this problem. The analysis of the topics of news reports about air pollution in the cities under study is carried out. The main types of events that have become informational reasons for the appearance of news related to the problem of air pollution are highlighted. The author collected statistical data on the number of media reports about air pollution in 58 cities of Russia, where during the study period cases of high air pollution were recorded (maximum single concentrations of harmful substances in more than 10 MPC). Lists of all cases are published by the Ministry of natural resources in annual reports. We used the website news.yandex.ru in order to collect data. It aggregates news reports from more than 7 000 sources — from local city media to leading Russian news agencies. Messages for the period from 2015 to 2019 were taken into account, where the name of each city was mentioned along with the phrase “air pollution”. Cities with the highest and lowest level of media attention to the problem of air pollution were identified. We compared the data collected with the population of cities, the number of recorded cases of severe air pollution, and the indicator of social danger of air pollution, which is calculated by multiplying the frequency of high air pollution cases and the number of inhabitants. It is suggested that there may be a relationship between the media coverage of air pollution and the indicator of social danger of pollution. Based on the assumption that this relationship exists, we have identified cities where the lack of media reports about air pollution is most evident.