Media and Environmental Concerns – A Study of New Media Reportage on Sustainable Water Conservation” – A Review

  • Fr. A. Ignacy s.j, dr. D.sunıtha

Abstract

Mass media plays an important role in disseminating information regarding environmental problems among the general public (Ormerod, 2017). As the water crisis emerges as one of the biggest challenges faced by India (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2016), media platforms are expected to play a major role in addressing the crisis. However, in the present times, media reportage of environmental issues is dismal as they focus on gaining viewership, which they intend to obtain through entertainment programmes or political reporting (Petersson, 2018). At the same time forms of New media, such as social media and the social networking sites, have enormous user base, which is easy to spread out to, implying that there is remarkable scope for new media to direct environmental activism and sustainable water conservation. In the context of the emerging environmental calamity, the present study intends to understand the role of media and environmental concerns and new media reportage on sustainable water conservation. In order to accomplish this, research studies conducted in the setting of media-backed environmental initiatives on water conservations were reviewed, both from an Indian and global context. Models and theoretical frameworks that explain how modern forms of the new media can augment environmental activism; the water conservation in particular was reviewed. In addition, the study also explores into the problems and limitations connected to media backed environmental activism and water conservation. Literature sourced from databases, such as Google Scholar, EBSCOHost, ProQuest, JSTOR, Scopus, etc., were reviewed to assess the role of mass media in focusing environmental activism and water conservation and the future course of action that they need to take for cultivating environmental conservation behaviour among the users.

Published
2020-06-01
How to Cite
Fr. A. Ignacy s.j, dr. D.sunıtha. (2020). Media and Environmental Concerns – A Study of New Media Reportage on Sustainable Water Conservation” – A Review. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(8s), 4548-4553. Retrieved from http://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/25511