Environment correspondents in China in their own words: Their perceptions of their role and the possible consequences of their journalism

Abstract

There is widespread dismay at the effects of Chinese economic development on the environment. The government is cognisant of the issues and seeking to raise awareness. Among the means are the media, such that a new specialism has appeared in China in recent years, that of the environment correspondent. This study gives voice to these specialists in order to understand their attitudes towards the environment, their means of operation and their views on the significance of their own work. The findings of the study are that Chinese environment correspondents are tentatively exploiting the opportunities that the government’s worry about the environment may give them, even as they doubt their capacity to respond adequately to the challenges posed by taking the environment seriously and the responsibility for raising awareness and identifying transgressions. Just as journalists became the evangelists of China’s economic revolution, so they may be becoming the promoters of environment awareness. In the course of so doing, it may be that they are among those contributing to a new consensus about how decisions are being taken, and should be made, in their society.