![Sample our Urban Studies journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110826/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Urban-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
News reporting on sustainability has been criticized for (1) having a limited coverage of solutions, (2) reporting on solutions with a negative bias, (3) being dominated by sources from government and mainstream business, and (4) promoting frames that prioritize the role of the market and techno-scientific solutions, which leave unchallenged the unsustainable behavior of consumer societies and the focus on economic growth. This study was the first to examine how sustainability is reported in a constructive media outlet and found that articles (1) consistently elaborated solutions, (2) described them in optimistic ways, (3) quoted various sources, and (4) developed a frame that challenged consumerism and critiqued society’s preoccupation with growth while helping to imagine a desirable sustainable future. It is thus argued that this novel, constructive approach to journalism can help move society to a sustainable future by expanding the repertoire of culturally-resonant stories to live by.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Yacoumis (Citation2018) labels these “discursive themes.” As his description of these themes focuses on problem definitions and solution recommendations (two of the functional features of frames as per Entman’s (Citation1993) seminal definition), this paper refers to them as “frames.”
2 Italics are used to mark frames.
3 For a comprehensive review of news values definitions see Caple and Bednarek (Citation2013).
4 This type of news has also been called “solutions journalism” (see McIntyre & Gyldensted, Citation2017).
5 Evidence on the link between solutions reporting and intentions to act is only beginning to emerge; some researchers find no connection (see McIntyre, Citation2017).