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ABSTRACT
This article assesses the success of WWF Japan’s “Background Media Strategy” in influencing Japanese mainstream news outlets’ coverage of climate change negotiations. WWF Japan adopted this “Background Media Strategy” after the Bali COP in 2007; instead of lobbying, it aims to build journalists’ expertise. This article examines its success after seven years through three research approaches: the analysis of participant lists; two surveys (conducted in 2009 and 2015); and a content analysis of climate change articles that appeared in four large mainstream newspapers between April and July 2015. Based on these different data, the author concludes that the new media strategy was successful: Japanese journalists increasingly rely on information provided by WWF Japan and less on information provided by the government and industry. This experiment suggests that a new relationship between global NGOs and the media can improve environmental communications—an approach that could help advocacy groups around the world.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 The Living Planet Report is the world’s leading, science-based analysis of planetary health and the impact of human activity, published by the WWF every two years.
2 Regular WWF School attendees from Nikkei, Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri, and Kyodo were interviewed to obtain background information about their reporting routine.