Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Communicating Environmental Risks: Local Newspaper Coverage Of Shellfish Bacterial Contamination In Maine, Brianne Suldovsky, Eva Arbor, Victoria Skillin, Laura Lindenfeld

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal resources play a vital role in Maine’s cultural and economic wellbeing, contributing an estimated 168 billion dollars to the Maine economy. There are numerous risks to the sustainability of Maine’s shellfishing industry and working waterfront, including pathogenic bacterial pollution. In this study, we ask a broad fundamental question central to science and environmental journalism: how do newspapers cover localized environmental risks and what are the implications of those approaches? Utilizing the northeastern US state of Maine’s shellfishing industry as an exemplar environmental issue, this study examines how Maine’s two most read newspapers, the Bangor Daily News and the Portland …