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Who Cares Wins: The Role Of Local News And News Sources In Influencing Community Responses To Marine Protected Areas, Michelle Voyer, Tanja Dreher, William Gladstone, Heather Goodall

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Mass media is a key tool by which environmental interventions, such as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are communicated to the public. The way in which local news outlets present and explain MPAs to local communities is likely to be influential in determining how they respond to the proposal. In particular the tendency of news media to focus on areas of conflict and dispute ensures ideology and politics play a central role in reporting of MPA proposals, often simplifying debate into an 'us versus them' or 'fishers versus conservationists' ideological conflict. This can lead to the outright rejection of an MPA …