Articles producció científica> Estudis de Comunicació

Framing Forest Fires and Environmental Activism: a Storytelling Contest about Human Intervention in Nature

  • Identification data

    Identifier: imarina:5938158
    Authors:
    Castello, EnricMontagut, Marta
    Abstract:
    This article focuses on the processes of sense-making of forest fires in a Mediterranean context. The authors use a textual approach to compare media framing with activist organizational storytelling. The authors conducted a frame analysis in two major daily newspapers in Catalonia (La Vanguardia and El Periodico de Catalunya) during three summers and compared the results with the stories from four leading activist and volunteering organizations that came out of in-depth interviews with their members, one focus group and published materials. The results identified up to five major mainstream media frames, among which were stories focusing on agricultural risk, climate change and weather conditions; imprudent and negligent attitudes; inappropriate fuel management and woodland conditions; and arson. The natural self-regulatory frame was present as part of the discourse of resilience but almost residual. Some journalism focused on the spectacular nature of the events and their dramatic impact, which led to some degree of mediatization of wildfires. The organizations problematized these frames and discussed about the appropriateness of human intervention to prevent forest fires. The results also revealed that activists observed the issue from a broader complexity, replicating frames on structural responsibility instead of individual responsibility allocation. The authors point out that if wildfires are to be better understood and dealt with more in-depth knowledge is required of different stakeholders' approaches to preventing forest fires.
  • Others:

    Author, as appears in the article.: Castello, Enric; Montagut, Marta;
    Department: Estudis de Comunicació
    URV's Author/s: Castelló Cogollos, Enric / Montagut Calvo, Marta
    Keywords: Coverage Environmental activism Framing nature Operationalizations Organizational storytelling Politics Risk communication Wildfire mediatization Wildfire prevention
    Abstract: This article focuses on the processes of sense-making of forest fires in a Mediterranean context. The authors use a textual approach to compare media framing with activist organizational storytelling. The authors conducted a frame analysis in two major daily newspapers in Catalonia (La Vanguardia and El Periodico de Catalunya) during three summers and compared the results with the stories from four leading activist and volunteering organizations that came out of in-depth interviews with their members, one focus group and published materials. The results identified up to five major mainstream media frames, among which were stories focusing on agricultural risk, climate change and weather conditions; imprudent and negligent attitudes; inappropriate fuel management and woodland conditions; and arson. The natural self-regulatory frame was present as part of the discourse of resilience but almost residual. Some journalism focused on the spectacular nature of the events and their dramatic impact, which led to some degree of mediatization of wildfires. The organizations problematized these frames and discussed about the appropriateness of human intervention to prevent forest fires. The results also revealed that activists observed the issue from a broader complexity, replicating frames on structural responsibility instead of individual responsibility allocation. The authors point out that if wildfires are to be better understood and dealt with more in-depth knowledge is required of different stakeholders' approaches to preventing forest fires.
    Thematic Areas: Ciencias sociales Communication Comunicación, información y documentación científica Revistas de ciencias sociales Revistas de filología y linüística
    licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
    Author's mail: marta.montagut@urv.cat enric.castello@urv.cat
    ISSN: 23867876
    Author identifier: 0000-0002-0270-9983 0000-0003-2154-2450
    Record's date: 2024-01-27
    Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
    Link to the original source: https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/article/view/35433
    Papper original source: Communication & Society-Spain. 32 (4): 291-306
    APA: Castello, Enric; Montagut, Marta; (2019). Framing Forest Fires and Environmental Activism: a Storytelling Contest about Human Intervention in Nature. Communication & Society-Spain, 32(4), 291-306. DOI: 10.15581/003.32.4.291-306
    Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
    Article's DOI: 10.15581/003.32.4.291-306
    Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
    Journal publication year: 2019
    Publication Type: Journal Publications
  • Keywords:

    Communication
    Coverage
    Environmental activism
    Framing nature
    Operationalizations
    Organizational storytelling
    Politics
    Risk communication
    Wildfire mediatization
    Wildfire prevention
    Ciencias sociales
    Communication
    Comunicación, información y documentación científica
    Revistas de ciencias sociales
    Revistas de filología y linüística
    23867876
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