Media

'bad news sells papers’ How reliable do you think UK newspaper reports are about climate change? To what extent to UK newspaper reports link climate change to ‘sustainable development’?

We are forever told as children 'do not believe everything the TV tells you'. So does this apply to Newspapers as well? Individually we all have our own opinion upon this with a great deal of stigma attached to the types of newspapers people read. As the Broadsheet is aimed at an avid reader who expects great long winded articles containing an intellectual aspect of the news with a large quantity of facts. However the opinion of the Tabloid news paper is that it contains funny pictures with little informative writing. But are we still to trust that either type of new paper is providing us with the correct, mutual information?

Boykoff did a study into 'The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids', this showed that the main features with tabloid articles had headlines containing mainly tones of fear, misery and doom. But is it all that way? Well we have done a mini-test of this within Broadsheet newspapers and it reflected the similar results in that few articles contained a positive out look on global warming such as achievements.

Taking newspapers at face value it appears that humans are entirely to blame with little effort made to undo our mistakes. i can take personal experience of continual bad news reported within my area. As continuous flood warnings was dominating the local headlines within Caversham, with predictions that the River Thames will breach its banks within July 2007. The headlines stimulated local shop keepers of the precinct of Caversham to invest in sand bags around the door despite it being over 200yards from the riverbank. With continual high alert the residents expected the water to come yet it never did. However the positive outcome after the worry was never published.

Newspapers vary so much as to whether they link to sustainable development, but it can be said that within broadsheet newspapers there is more in depth knowledge than within the tabloids and it also gives a more idea of sustainable development and research advances. It is up to the reader as in how literally to take the newspapers but always be remembered that this is only one opinion.

Boykoff, M.T. (2008) The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids. Political Geography 27 (5) 549-569

Cars!!!

So as normal I turn up late but can I really be blamed? I’ve had 2 stand by the side of a blustery road with drizzle stinging my eyes and the loud road of lorries in my ear as no bus turned up for over 40minutes. All attempts of looking reasonable have gone to the wind; this can not be my fault. Being one of the very few (well it felt that way) who did not learn to drive immediately after turning 17, I rely heavily upon public transport or the generosity of others.

On those nasty days in which it seems like an eternity stood within the cold, hopping within my own car and zooming off seems like such an attractive alternative. But is it really with the household spending increasing along with the volume of traffic, it is apparent that people are prepared to fork out on the huge financial commitment of a car. This is despite the constant bombardment of information of why we should not be using our own private transport.

The Government are continually on at us as to how it is affecting the environment such as the fact that; Carbon Dioxide (C02) admissions have increased 4% between 1990 and 2006. But what does that mean to everyone? Well really nothing there is no immediate effects felt by the individual person other than getting to the next place and splashing the losers who stand and the bus stops in the cold. The only price paid for not thinking of this gas given off is the pinch of the pocket from the Government, with high fuel prices and higher tax rates, though what is a few extra pounds to people who have already paid out a fortune to drive around!

But the Government have recently come up with applying the thought of money to encourage lower admissions rate, with the pitch of: “save one months fuel over a year”. This pitch is not encouraging the use of alternatives as they don’t work if there is already the luxury of a car only to lower the damage the individuals current behaviours cause. This is sustainability as it’s not changing the individuals’ behaviour of using a car but making it less wasteful of limited resources.

This can be done through a variety of ways such as; greener cars, driving smoother, shifting to a higher gear at the right time, getting in the car and going, switching the engine off when not in motion, having the correct tire pressure, sticking to the speed limit, removing unnecessary weight and only using the air conditioning and electrical devices when needed.

But is this really going to happen? As like dusting the bike off from deep in the garage it takes active commitment such as keep a petrol car at 2500rpms, as driving at 37mph in 3rd gear uses 25% more fuel than in 5th gear, or it takes an investment of a new greener car. Only time will tell but as more people take to the roads whether they are ready to step back and think of an alternative.