'....\..
v. ‘

 

.av

a}?

.5?“

fig?
"I. nfilvf.

.5. In.

‘13:: a):
.. .3... z)":
I 7 .

 

:qu ‘
, to. < X) ..
4
«in». .) “Erna;-
. ‘ p». 1; xx.
1..
4’“

v
:1:
h 21

\ . l

\ as;
My“ 5
3%th

a?»

‘ .n
1‘ LEE

.. s... .0133:

4..“ I.“
E,

3?.“
. «MA.»

I

link. V

L . ‘ $33? IN.“

{ME

. f1

‘

 

 

“I 't.
/

«A I
‘ lo

507 53524

This is to certify that the
thesis entitled

A PORTRAIT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS IN
MEXICAN NEWSPAPERS

presented by

Susana Guzman

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for the

MA. degree in Journalism

%7 m
O Major Professor’s Signature 0
08[27/04

Date

 

MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

-A-A‘.‘:--u-o-.-o-a--

- ..-.-.-.--.-._.-.-.--.-.-.-n—u--o-o-.-a--.------.--.--n-n--.--...-.-..

-' Vfiv

' ' - v

LlBRARY l

MiChlgan State
[\University

 

 

PLACE IN RETURN Box to remove this checkout from your record.
To AVOID FINES return on or before date due.
MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested.

 

DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6/01 c:/ClRC/DateDue.p65-p.15

A PORTRAIT OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS IN MEXICAN
NEWSPAPERS

BY

Susana Guzman

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

School of Journalism

2004

ABSTRACT

A PORTRAIT OF ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS IN MEXICAN
NEWSPAPERS

By

Susana Guzman

This study describes the characteristics and newsroom trends of Mexican
newspaper environmental journalists in 2003. A survey was conducted among 70
environmental reporters from 15 of the 32 states of Mexico. The study found that
the average age of Mexican environmental journalists is 35, sixty percent were
male, and almost 80 percent had a bachelor's degree in communication. One of
the biggest challenges Mexican environmental journalists face is little access to
government information about the environment.

This study found that for this population no relationship exists between the
size of the newspaper and the output of environmental stories; that there is a
weak direct correlation between the larger papers and the time spent on the beat;
and a moderate correlation between larger papers and training.

This study suggests that news patterns of Mexican and American
environmental journalists are similar, such as time, space and budget

constraints.

Copyright by
SUSANA GUZMAN
2004

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study would not have been possible without the support of the people
of the Knight Center of Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.
Special thanks go to my thesis director, professor Jim Detjen, for encouraging
me to work on this research. His insight about the topic has helped me to
improve it and his enthusiastic attitude toward this project helped me to complete
this research.

In addition to the author, special people devoted time to guide me in this
project. Special thanks go to a member of the committee, Dr. Frederick Fico, for
his precious time, suggestions and warmth to develop the statistical section of
this project. He was always willing to help me when I needed it.

I would like to thank the other committee member, Professor Folu
Ogundimu, for his valuable comments that help to enrich and improve this study.

I would also like to thank my family who always support me. Especially, I
am grateful to my son Aaron and my husband Raul Sanchez. I dedicate this

thesis to my family.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................... v
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND ........................................................... 4
Mexican’s Print Media ................................................... 4
Environmental Journalism in Mexico, .............................. 15
LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................... 17

CHAPTER 2: HYPOTHESES AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............... 22
METHODS ........................................................ 27

Population .................................................................. 27

Procedure .................................................................. 28

Questionnaire formation ................................................ 29

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ....................................... 31

Demographics ............................................................. 31

Research Questions ...................................................... 31

Hypotheses ................................................................. 45

CHAPTER 4: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................. 48

Limitations .................................................................. 48

Suggestions for future studies ........................................ 49

Conclusions ............................................................... 50
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................... 55

APPENDICES .............................................................................. 59

9'95”!“

LIST OF FIGURES

. Figure 1. Independence, Ideology, and Circulation of Mexico City

newspapers, 1995-1996. Source: Building the Fourth Estate by Chappell

Lawson ................................................................................... 13
Figure 2. Time spent on environmental articles ................................ 33
Figure 3. Topics covered ............................................................ 34
Figure 4. Problems reporters face ................................................ 35
Figure 5. Section in the newspaper where reporters work ................. 37

vi

Introduction

Environmental journalism has grown in importance because
environmental news is related to problems affecting the health and quality of life.
Past research shows that this journalistic field is relatively new; it was not
acknowledged within American newsrooms as a specific beat until the mid-60$
(Shoenfeld, 1983).

Hannigan (1995) attributes some key events to the increase in media
coverage of the environment: the first image of the earth from the moon in 1969;
environmental catastrophes; the rise of environmental activism celebrating the
Earth Day in 1970; legal events like the Superfund, and such international events
as the 1992 Rio Summit.

To what extent has the environmental beat been developed in Mexican
papers? For more than a decade, journalists have acknowledged the need of
developing a specialized beat on environmental news. In 1992, during a seminar
on the role of the media to promote an ecological culture, academics and
journalists discussed that media owners should open spaces for environmental
reporting.1

Compared to developed countries like the United States, where many
newspapers hire reporters to cover the environment full time, Mexico is far
behind this stage. The Mexican press model has followed the United States free
market model (Torres, 1999). But different from the American model freedom of
the press, the Mexican press has functioned for many years under the collusion

between the government and the owners of the media. In the context of the

Mexican media, this study describes the characteristics of journalists covering
the environment in Mexican newspapers. An environmental journalist is defined
as the reporter who “gathers news relating to mankind's effect on the
environment and ecosystem” (Atwater, 1985). This study is important because
knowing the profile of the professionals who write stories about environmental
issues contributes to a better understanding on this type of journalism in Mexico.

Chapter I shows the “big picture” of Mexican print media in which
environmental reporting has been developed. The presidential race victory of the
opposition’s candidate Vicente Fox in 2000 represented the end of the 70 years
rule of the party called PRI and the beginning of a democratization process in
Mexico.2 This process has also had an important impact on the Mexican press.

The objective of this study is first, to describe personal and professional
demographic characteristics as well as newsroom trends of the journalists
covering the environmental issues in Mexican newspapers. This work shows the
results of a survey conducted from February to October 2003 among Mexican
newspapers reporters.

Second, this study analyzes if the size of a paper is related to the
environmental beat. Are larger papers giving more importance to the
environmental beat? Newsroom trends such as the amount of environmental
stories produced during a year, time spent on environmental stories, and training
on environmental journalism were variables selected.

Third, under an international perspective, the results of this study are

compared to those drawn from a survey (Detjen et al., 2000) among American

environmental journalists to identify similarities and differences. Knowing the
limitations of the different cultures and economies between these two countries,
this study suggests that there might be similar newsroom patterns regarding the

environmental beat.

Chapter 1

Background

Mexican’s Print Media

In general, official control and corruption have characterized the Mexican
press for many years. But recently, the Mexican press has been going through a
process of transition in which the media’s political orientation rather than official
control influences their coverage.3 From censorship and self-censorship to
freedom of the press the process of transition toward a democracy is analyzed by
Massachusetts Institute Technological Political Science professor Chappell H.
Lawson.

The story of media opening in Mexico deserves to be told, says Lawson,
author of the book Building the Fourth Estate: Democratization and the rise of a
free press in Mexico. The book is an analysis of the Mexican press during the
last 20 years. Based on field research through extensive interviews with
newspaper publishers, journalists, authorities and scholars from Mexico, Lawson
conceives of the arising of an independent media and democratization as
“interacting and mutually reinforcing processes.” It is a Mexican democratic
process expedited by the 2000 elections in which the ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party lost the presidential race after 70 years in power.

Lawson states that scholars have acknowledged the important role of

media in a democratization process: “Without...diverse and independent press,

it is difficult to see how citizens can acquire sufficient information to make

meaningful political choices.” However, he notes that there is a lack of
research on how a free press arises. “Nor do they [scholars] understand the
political consequences of changes in media coverage on democratizing
countries.” 4
Lawson also argues that political liberalization does not necessarilly
produce by itself a free press. In Mexico factors like journalistic norms and
market competition between print media outlets also determine the media
behavior. “Market competition plays a powerful role in encouraging the press
to experiment with more independent coverage.” 5
Beginning in the mid-19805 changes in media coverage influenced the
political transition, giving the voice to new civic groups in Mexico. Media

opening thus “increased scrutiny of government actions and decisions.”

Authoritarian political system

From the creation in the 19305 of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(called the PRI) and until the mid 19908, the “official” party in Mexico’s
political system controlled and censored the Mexican press. Peruvian writer
Mario Vargas Llosa called it “the Perfect Dictatorship.” Media was one of the
institutions manipulated to preserve an authoritarian government.

Lawson says that opposition parties were allowed to some extent: “But

serious challenges to PRI rule were invariably thwarted through an elaborate

system of corporatist co-optation, electoral “alchemy” (fraud), and selective

repression.” 6

Media old political system control

Lawson explains how a subtle government control of media was more
effective than direct repression. Media was used for “private gain and political
legitimization, “he says. For example, members of the political elite founded
or bought newspapers that received government subsidies, a way of co-
optation. ”Physical repression, direct government ownership, and official
punishment for receiving banned information were all rare. By contrast,
corruption and manipulation of broadcasting concessions were extremely
common,“ Lawson documents.

Direct state ownership of the media was limited to Notimex, the main news
agency, and the El Nacional newspaper. Rather than ownership, government
preferred to sponsor pro-government papers by “providing credit, technical
assistance and subsidized newsprint. “Known as the culture of collusion,
“media owners and PRl leaders confluence of interests assured their
economic prosperity in exchange for the use the media as informational
vehicle. For example, Excelsior and El Universal, two leading papersfounded
during the revolutionary period (19103) “had close ties to the PRI.” 7 Others
papers such as El Sol chain, Novedades, El Diario de Mexico, El Dia, and El

Hera/do de Mexico were part of the culture of collusion. “In order to prosper

economically, they needed the state to provide them with broadcasting
concessions, subsidized inputs, government advertising, protection from
competition, and lucrative business opportunities.” 8

Another official control over the media was the government’s publicity.
This practice created an economic dependence to the official advertising and
made them vulnerable to government pressures. In the print media, the state
provided about half of all advertising revenues. The official publicity worked
through the so-called gacetillas, a paid insert written by the government and
disguised as a newspaper article.

Control over credit was also critical for some pro-govemment papers, such
as Excelsior, which owed $ 16 billion pesos by 1992. But more importantly,
was control over the press through subsidized newsprint. PIPSA, a private-
estate company, had until the 19903 the monopoly control to produce and
import newsprint. “Outside Mexico, the cliche was that PIPSA provided the
government with a crucial lever of control over the print media by restricting
the supply of newsprint to anti-govemment publications.”

Another component of the Mexican media control is the corruption of
journalists. Sources of income were their low salaries, commissions from
advertising revenues sold by the reporter to their sources and the so-called
chayo or monthly cash payments from the government agencies they
covered. “Chayos varied from $75 to $1,500 dollars per month, an amount
that represented more than the average reporter’s salary, according to

Lawson’s research.

By controlling access to official information, the government rewarded
sympathetic papers and punished their dissenters. For example, Lawson
accounts that in 1990 a group of independent-minded publications were not
allowed to get in and cover an important press conference given by the .
former president, Carlos Salinas. Among those publications were El
Financiero, El Economista, and Proceso.

Authorities also monitored and harassed the dissenters through two social
communications areas, one in the Interior Ministry and the other in the Office
of the President. In 1991, Jesus Cantu, editor of Monterrey’s El Porvenir was
forced to resign after the paper published a critical article about former
president Carlos Salinas. Many other independent-minded journalists were
fired. “Raul Trejo, Benjamin Wong, Manu Dombrierer, Miguel Angel Granados
Chapa, Enrique Quintana, Rene Delgado, and numerous others were all
sacrificed by the owners of the news organization for which they worked,”
Lawson documents.

Phone calls from officials were also used to “suggest” the angle of stories.
Informal and non-written rules drove journalists to self-censorship.

When phone calls and suggestions did not work for the officials, indirect
pressures caused economic threats for the independent media. For example,
tax audits, threats, and overt intervention to the point of closure occurred.
Lawson documents several cases: Diario de Mexico in 1967; Voz de Mexico
in 1968; the radical leftist magazine For Que? in 1974; ABC newspaper in

1979; and Impacto magazine in 1986.

“One of the most celebrated cases of direct government intervention
occurred in July 1976, when President Luis Echeverria orchestrated a coup at
Excelsior (then Mexico City’s leading newspaper), ejecting Julio Scherer and
his team of independent-minded editors. Another significant incident came in
the wake of President Jose Lopez-Portillo’s bank nationalization in 1982,
when El Norte publisher Alejandro Junco was temporarily compelled to leave
the country with his family... they represented clear cases of official
censorship."9

Despite the official pressure, a handful of independent media survived
without government assistance. However, Lawson documents that about 60
Mexican journalists were murdered between 1980 and 1996. Coincidentally,
when independent newspapers emerged, the number of journalists murdered
also increased. Most of the cases were related to drug traffic investigations,
such as the assassination of Mexico City columnist Manuel Buendia.

The “Perfect Dictatorship” was a rent-seeking regime that benefited media
businessmen in collusion with the PRI government. Mexico’s political system
allowed the presence of independent media during the five decades of media
control. However, there was a limit on criticism of the president, controversial
topics that might reveal official corruption or electoral fraud. These “remained

decidedly off-limits to the press.”

Media coverage under censorship

The result of the Mexico’s media control resulted in a “relatively docile and
domesticated press.” Lawson states three elements in Mexico’s newspapers
coverage: The official control of the public agenda; a selective silence on
issues of particular vulnerability for the government and partisan bias in favor
of the PRI during election campaigns. “Although the media in Mexico were
never converted into purely propagandistic instruments, coverage under the
old regime tended to reflect official priorities. For instance, a content analysis
of newspapers showed that headlines consisted of “assertions by prominent

members of the political elite.”10

Opening Mexico’s print media

When did an open media start to emerge? During the last two decades of
the twentieth century, Mexico’s old system of media control gradually broke
down, states Lawson. He attributes this in part to the journalistic practices at
independent newspapers as well as the increasing demand for “assertive
coverage.” Independent media overcame official censorship and established
credibility. Although the papers’ audience represented about 10 to 15 percent
of Mexicans, opinion leaders and policy decision makers get their news

primarily from newspapers and magazines.

10

Mexico’s print media characteristics

Currently, about twenty newspapers are considered the most important
media, many of them independent from the government control. They are
published in the largest cities such as Mexico City, Monterrey, and
Guadalajara.

Most of the papers mentioned below were part of this survey of reporters
covering the environment. Diversity in ideology —from a left wing perspective
like La Jomada to a right wing perspective like El Hera/do- has remained over
time.

About 15 percent of Mexicans get their news from print media. Compared
to international standards circulation figures are relatively low. The largest
circulations are about 100,000 issues, with an average of 30,000 issues.

In most newspapers, self-reported circulation figures have been
questioned because of their high levels. Lawson reports that Mexico had
more than 200 newspapers and magazines in the mid-1990s. “In reality,
however, only about twenty of these papers and one newsmagazine
(Proceso) sold more than 30,000 copies per issue. The rest were essentially
ghost publications that survived on government subsidies. . 3’"

The larger publications (themselves still rather small by international
standards) are concentrated in Mexico City and some provincial cities like

Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Merida.

11

Papers can be divided in three main categories. First, are the county’s
independent publications: Refonna (Mexico City), El Norte (Monterrey), La
Jomada (Mexico City), El Financiero (Mexico City), El Diario de Yucatan
(Merida), Sig/o 21 (Guadalajara), El lmparcial (Hermosillo), La Cronica
(Mexicali), and Zeta (Tijuana).

A second group included some traditionally pro-government papers:
Excelsior (Mexico City), El Informador (Guadalajara), El Occidental
(Guadalajara), and For Esto (Merida).

A third group classified by Lawson are those with a circulation that fell
somewhere in between these two categories, such as El Universal (Mexico
City) and El Porvemir (Monterrey).

This classification might change over time. For example, El lndependiente,
an independent paper with a short-term life, was closed after economic and
political struggles. Also, Jose Gutierrez Vivo, the most respected journalist in
the Mexican radio bought the El Hera/do chain.12

Lawson’s graphic on Independence, Ideology, and Circulation of Mexico
City newspapers of 1995-1996 makes an excellent graphical summary. He
measured the ideology in a minus-plus 100 scale from the left to the right. In
1995-1996 Mexico’s print media were ideologically diverse, not much different
from 2004. In this graphic, the circles at the top tend to be those independent
from the government whereas the circles at the bottom tend to be
independent. Lawson took into account the agenda setting, assertiveness and

partisan posture to measure the independence of the papers.

12

 

Independence
5° ‘F

 

. El Economista

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

£1 Diario de
Mexico

0 Independent

0 Semi-independent

a Dependent
l l l I
50 25 0 25
4— Left Ideology Right —->

 

 

 

Figure 1. Independence, Ideology and Circulation of Mexico City newspapers,

1995-1996. Source: Building the Fourth Estate by Chappell Lawson

13

Mexican new law of access to public information

When campaigning for the 2000 Presidential elections, Vicente Fox
promised to enact a new law guaranteeing access of public information. In
2002 the Mexican Congress approved a law that left behind the idea that the
public information belonged to the government rather to the citizens (Doyle,
2003). For example, a 1999 survey among 100 Mexican journalists showed it
was easier for 86 percent of them to obtain information from the government

through leaks rather than official means (Huges, 2002).

Conclusions:

For many years collusion between Mexico’s political system and the
media has driven a corrupt and censored press. Independent media started to
emerge two decades ago due to changing journalistic norms.

Assertive reporting promoted increasing readership and greater the
market competition among print media. Civil organizations, opposition parties,
political scandals, the military and drug trafficking issues were reported. An
autocratic government also started to erode because of an economic crisis
and increasing population. At the same time, political events such as the loss
by the PRI of the presidential elections in 2000 opened a new stage of a

country in search for a democracy.

14

A new law on access to public information enacted in 2003 will help to
improve Mexican journalism standards. Different from the past, a new
generation of younger journalists are being educated and trained to follow

codes of ethics.

Environmental Journalism in Mexico

In 1990, Carlos Martinez conducted interviews with environmental
reporters (“Media, Journalism and Environment,” 1990). Martinez found that an
environmental beat was emerging. The sources of information were scientists,
followed by environmentalists, and the government. Reporters acknowledged
that there was no follow up on their environmental stories. In addition, reporters
expressed doubts that they could improve the quality of environmental reporting.

In 2002 the coordinator of the weekly environmental magazine of La Jomada,
Ivan Restrepo, said environmental coverage is not as permanent as the
traditional beats.13 It is seen as a second-tier topic. “It appears generally when
social and economical damages have been done.” For example, Restrepo
explained, fishermen protested the effect on their economic activity of polluted
waters discharged from a nearby oil refinery. Restrepo thinks that more
investigative reporting is needed within this beat, where reporters still tend to

report press conferences and official statements from the government.

15

Lazaro Rios, associate director for Reforma newspaper, said in 1996, two
years after the paper was launched to the Mexican City market, that the
environment is a new field of journalistic specialization. “Whereas political or
financial journalism are traditional beats, the environment beat is emerging.” ‘4
Rios stressed the importance of the reporting specialization for the paper: “We
want the leg of the information and the leg of the specialization political,
economical or environmental areas to be equally strong.” Since its birth in 1994,
the newspaper has assigned reporters to cover environmental issues and
published a weekly page on environmental issues.

Guillermina Guillén, an environment reporter for El Universal newspaper,
thinks the environmental beat is not perceived as important as other areas within
the newsroom. However, after five years on the beat, she remains there despite
a recent rotation of the staff in the newsroom, due to her specialization on
environmental coverage.15

Angelica Enciso, an environment reporter for La Jomada newspaper, thinks
the beat is important for editors and upper management levels, but not for
reporters from traditional beats.16 In both cases they remain committed to the
beat because of their continuing interest. They both agreed that the number of
stories they write is larger than the number of stories published by the paper, due

to the lack of space for publication.

16

Literature Review

Environmental journalism contributes to public awareness about
environmental problems derived from human activities. According to media
agenda-setting theory, environmental coverage is an “unobtrusive” issue
because the public gets most of its information about this topic through media,
rather than from a personal experience (Zucker, 1978; Atwater, 1985). In
addition, agenda—setting theory states that environmental coverage determines
the public agenda on this issue. Environmental coverage thus, becomes crucial
for informing the public about the environment, and journalists are the
professionals behind this coverage.

The Mexican media model has followed the free market American model,
with advertisers providing the main source of revenues. Mexican scholars have
analyzed the Mexican media model from the cultural hegemony theory due to the
geographic proximity and the economic dependence on the United States. “The
United States found a fertile soil in Mexico to expand its economy, ideology and
culture.”17 For those independent-minded media, such as the El Norte
newspaper, have been influenced by the American free press model.18

Shoemaker & Reese (1991) state that content is influenced by internal
and external factors. The background and personal experiences of the journalists
might affect the content they deliver. For example, gender, education or sexual

t. 19

orientation may influence the conten Media routines, organization,

extramedia and ideological levels also influence the content. Shoemaker &

17

Reese (1991) also state that the environmental journalists have similar limits and
constraints --time, budget and allocation of the news- determined more by upper
management decisions as other journalists.

Fico & Detjen (2000) add that due to the specialization, the environmental
reporters have greater influence on the topics, sources and angles of the stories.

According to Becker et al. (2000), the role of the beat structure
organization in the newsroom is determined in part, by newspaper size. Becker
et al. explain that past research has shown that structural differentiation occurs
with the increasing size of a medium (Blau & Schoenherr, 1971 ). Thus, size
affects the number of departments, sections, hierarchic levels, and the degree of
role specialization. In addition, Becker et al. state that besides the size “other
determinants are the environment within which the organization operates and its
reliance on technology... It is possible that beat structure in newsrooms is simply
a form of job differentiation, and that this differentiation increases as newsrooms
become larger.” This study, examined whether the newspaper size is directly
related to the amount of environmental coverage from the Mexican journalists
perspective.

The field of environmental journalism education in the United States has
also grown along with environmental journalism”. In 1994, Fredman found 6 out
of 105 courses on environmental writing on the 1978 edition of the Directory of
Science Communication Courses and Programs. Ecological events, such as

droughts “drew American interest to the environment.”

18

In Mexico, ecological communication began to be part of academic
publications and specialized magazines in the 19703, due to the increased
concern about the impact of the environmental problems on society (Ramirez,
1992). “It is in the early 703 that environmental issues linked to political
consequences started to disseminate on the media.”

Profiles of environmental reporters and main newsroom trends have been
studied through a variety of surveys over the past three decades. In 1972,
William Witt received 62 responses from 95 environmental reporters in
newspapers nationwide (Witt, 1974). Witt describes a general profile: the typical
environmental journalist was a 31 to 40 year-old male with a bachelor’s degree in
journalism and no science background. These reporters covered mainly topics
such as the ongoing pollution problems and their sources were primarily
conservation organizations, government, and business. Slightly less than half of
his respondents had the position of environmental reporter. One-third of the
respondents spent all of their time writing environmental stories.

In 1993, a study on the state of the environmental reporting by American
Opinion Research concluded that environmental reporting was on the rise.

A survey was administered to 512 print and broadcast U.S. journalists around the
country (“The Press and the Environment: How Journalists Evaluate
Environmental Reporting,” 1993). The study found that half of the newspapers
had a reporter assigned to cover the environment. These tended to be larger

newspapers. For most reporters, the environment was not their primary beat. A

19

large number were general assignment reporters. Reporters working for larger
newspapers spend less than half of their time covering the environment.

In 1995, MGA/Thompson conducted a survey for Duquesne University
(Environmental Journalism Survey, 1995). The study of 224 environmental
reporters throughout the US. found that respondents perceived that there was
little media coverage of environmental issues. Academics, scientific journals, and
government were their more credible sources of information.

Detjen et al. (2000) conducted a survey among environmental journalists in
the US. Nearly half of the reporters surveyed spend more than half of their time
on the environmental beat whereas “only a third spend more than 75 percent of
their time on the beat.” A trend of less time spent on the environmental beat
compared to previous years was also found. Lack of resources and lack of time
were described as two problems that the United States environmental reporters
face.

A more recent study conducted among 55 environment reporters in New
England (Sachsman et al. 2002) defined the environmental journalism
specialization as “those journalists who, because of their expertise, their
experience, or their willingness, regularly write about environmental issues or
cover the environmental beat”. Only about one-third of this group said they had
an environmental journalists job title. “One reason for the varied titles may be that
these reporters often have duties that go far beyond covering the environment.”
For Detjen et al. (2000) these results are consistent with findings in past studies

where “. . .relatively few of these reporters cover environmental issues

20

exclusively. “ Environmental journalists in Mexico may face similar constrains.
The environmental beat, this is the one that allows a reporter to work full time on

environmental issues, might exist in few newsrooms.

21

Chapter 2

Research Questions

The objective of this thesis is first, to describe personal and professional
demographic characteristics of the Mexican newspaper reporters and to find out
what are basic newsroom patterns performed on a daily basis. The second
objective is to compare some of the results of this survey with those of the
American environmental journalists (Detjen et al., 2000).

Past research have answered the question of who are the American
journalists. In 1982, and a decade after in 1992, Weaver and Cleveland
conducted a study to respond this question. In 1992, they reported that the
“typical U.S. journalist is a white Protestant male who has a bachelor’s degree
from a public college, is married, 36 years old.” Those studies have provided
knowledge about who are the news professionals.21

Moreover, other studies have described personal and professional
characteristics of the US. environmental journalists (Witt, 1974; Detjen et al.,
2000; Sachsman et al., 2002). The research questions of this study stemmed
from the Weaver and Cleveland (1982) and Detjen et al. (2000) questionnaire.
The answers will attempt to provide the first descriptive study of who are the

Mexican environmental journalists. The research questions include:

1. What are the gender, age, and marital status of these Mexican environmental
reporters?

22

2. What is their educational background?

3. How much experience do they have in journalism? How much experience do
they have in environmental journalism?

4. What percentage of their time do they spend writing about environment?

5. How many articles did they write over a year?

6. What are the topics they covered the most?

7. What are the main problems they face in environmental reporting?

8. What are the sources they obtain information from?

9. What is the section they work for within the newsroom?

10. How many workshops for journalists on environmental issues did they attend
in the past fiver years?

11. What are their salaries?

12. Are they affiliated with a professional association? If not, what are the
reasons they expressed?

13. What is the environmental reporters geographical distribution?

14. Are there similar characteristics between Mexican and American
environmental journalists? What are some differences?

15. Open question. Comment about environmental journalism in Mexico.

23

Hypotheses

Previous research shows that the size of a medium is a factor in the
structure of a newsroom’s organization.22 An objective of this research is to find
out if the size of the paper influences Mexican environmental reporters
newsroom patterns. According to the Editors & Publishers International Yearbook
2001, the circulation of Mexican papers ranges from 20,000 to 373,600.

Traditionally, larger newspapers have assigned an environmental or
science reporter because they might allocate more resources to news
coverage.23 In 1994, Friedman wrote that: “Half of the newspapers, mostly larger
ones had specifically assigned a reporter to cover the environment,” based upon
a 1993 survey by American Opinion Research for the Foundation for American
Communications (FACS).24 For this study, a similar trend was expected for
Mexican environmental journalists. Past research has reported a moderate
correlation between size and the number of stories.25

Hypothesis 1 examines the relationship between the newspaper and the
environmental reporting training, the time invested on the topic and the number
of environmental stories produced. The independent variable “newspaper" is
defined as the size of the newspaper’s circulation. It is measured in a ratio level
as the circulation size. The dependent variable “training” is defined as the
attendance at workshops on environmental journalism; it is measured in an

ordinal level: None, 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15. The dependent variable “time spent”

24

2. What is their educational background?

3. How much experience do they have in journalism? How much experience do

they have in environmental journalism?

4. What percentage of their time do they spend writing about environment?

5. How many articles did they write over a year?

6. What are the topics they covered the most?

7. What are the main problems they face in environmental reporting?

8. What are the sources they obtain information from?

9. What is the section they work for within the newsroom?

10. How many workshops for journalists on environmental issues did they attend
in the past fiver years?

11. What are their salaries?

12. Are they affiliated with a professional association? If not, what are the
reasons they expressed?

13. What is the environmental reporters geographical distribution?

14. Are there similar characteristics between Mexican and American
environmental journalists? What are some differences?

15. Open question. Comment about environmental journalism in Mexico.

23

Hypotheses

Previous research shows that the size of a medium is a factor in the
structure of a newsroom’s organization.22 An objective of this research is to find
out if the size of the paper influences Mexican environmental reporters
newsroom patterns. According to the Editors & Publishers lntemational Yearbook
2001, the circulation of Mexican papers ranges from 20,000 to 373,600.

Traditionally, larger newspapers have assigned an environmental or
science reporter because they might allocate more resources to news
coverage.23 In 1994, Friedman wrote that: “Half of the newspapers, mostly larger
ones had specifically assigned a reporter to cover the environment,” based upon
a 1993 survey by American Opinion Research for the Foundation for American
Communications (FACS).2" For this study, a similar trend was expected for
Mexican environmental journalists. Past research has reported a moderate
correlation between size and the number of stories.25

Hypothesis 1 examines the relationship between the newspaper and the
environmental reporting training, the time invested on the topic and the number
of environmental stories produced. The independent variable “newspaper" is
defined as the size of the newspaper’s circulation. It is measured in a ratio level
as the circulation size. The dependent variable “training” is defined as the
attendance at workshops on environmental journalism; it is measured in an

ordinal level: None, 1 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15. The dependent variable “time spent”

24

is defined as the time the reporter invests writing environmental stories; it is
measured in an ordinal level: less than 25%, 26 to 50%, 51 to 75%, 76 to 100%.

The dependent variable “environmental story” is defined as news relating
to mankind’s effect on the environment and ecosystem. It is measured in an
ordinal level divided into four categories: 1-20, 21-50, 51-100, and more than
100.

Hypothesis 2 examines the correlation between the independent variable
“training” and the dependent variable “time spent” on environmental reporting
and environmental stories produced. More important than a science background,
training might play a critical role for the specialization on environmental
reporting.26

Hypothesis 3 examines the association between the environmental stories

output and the reporter’s experience in covering the environment.

25

 

The hypotheses are as follows:

H1: The larger the newspaper, the more training reporters will have on
environmental journalism, the more time reporters will spend on environmental

stories, and the more environmental stories the newspaper will publish.

H2: The more environmental training reporters have, the more time reporters
spend on environmental stories and the more environmental stories the

newspaper will publish.

H3: The more experience environmental reporters have on the beat, the more

environmental stories they will produce.

 

(H2)
Journalist
Training
+
+
(H1)
NP 4- + +
Circulation—pTraining_,Time spent , Environmental
Size Stories
(H3) +
Journalist
Expenence

26

Method

Population

The population for the study was journalists who cover environmental news in
Mexican newspapers. A survey was the method selected for this study. Since
there is no database of the environmental journalists in Mexico, a census was
created from the Editor and Publisher lntemational Year Book 2001. To test the
hypotheses of the study, papers were selected from the largest to the smallest
circulation sizes. Figures not found for the circulation size in the Editor and
Publisher were complemented through the Print Media quarterly directory (2002
Mexican Advertising Media).

In this study, environmental journalists are defined as journalists who are
most likely to “gather news relating to mankind’s effect on the environment and
ecosystem.”27 Generally speaking, the concept of environmental journalist is not
commonly used within the Mexican newsrooms. By asking for those reporters
most likely to cover ecology or the environment, this limitation was sorted out.
The list of Mexican environmental journalists includes the names of the reporters,

their telephone numbers, mailing address and their email addresses.

27

Three-stage Sampling Plan

Based on the Three-stage Sampling Plan of Weaver”, a sample of 9% (50
newspapers) from a list of 553 papers published on the Editor and Publisher
lntemational Year Book 2001 was drawn. In order to get information not reported
in the Editor and Publisher Yearbook the Print Media Directory 2002 of Mexico
was also used.

The second step was to obtain a list of environmental journalists for the
organization in the sample. Phone calls were made to all editors in chief or news
directors of all the sample organizations, explaining the study and requesting the
name of the reporter most likely to cover the environment on their staff.‘29

Finally, a sample of 70 environmental journalists was gathered. Fifty-nine

journalists responded (84 percent response rate).

Procedure

An e-mail and telephone survey was selected as the study method. A
questionnaire of 24 closed-ended questions and one open question were
designed. Originally, the e-mail questionnaire was first selected as the main
mean of communication, but when the researchers noticed the low rate of the
response, the telephone survey was used to solve the problem. All of the 70
reporters received a letter sent through e-mail. The letter introduces the survey

objectives and asks for participation. The challenge the researchers faced was to

28

get them to respond to the questionnaire in a timely manner. So, for each
reporter, two or three phone calls were often required. The responses were
gathered from February to October 2003. The session to conduct the survey over

the phone lasted an average of 30 minutes each.

Questionnaire Formation

Questions were designed to look at the following points:

1. Personal demographic characteristics
What are their personal demographic characteristics? What is the proportion of

men and women? What are their ages? What marital status do they have?

2. Newsroom patterns
What are their newsroom patterns? Questions related to experience, time spent,

environmental stories produced, topics and problems they faced.

3. Education background

Field of study and level of education were designed to describe what type of
studies the environmental reporters have. Also, we sought to find out if there is a
relationship between the field of education and their specialization on the

environment.

29

4. Professional trends

Are these journalists part of a professional association? If not, what are their

reasons? Do they attend environmental journalism workshops?

The questions were designed, first, to describe characteristics and
newsroom trends of the Mexican environmental journalists. Other questions are
related as possible factors in their specialization on environmental reporting.

For example, what causes them to specialize in the field? Is it the time
spent? Is it the experience? Is it the training? Is it a combination of them?

In addition, the questionnaire was also designed to be able to compare the
results with those from an American environmental journalists survey conducted
by Jim Detjen and Fred Fico of the School of Journalism at Michigan State
University in 2000. For example, what do the American and Mexican
environmental journalists have in common?

Data obtained from the sample were analyzed through the SPSS program.
The Research Questions’ results were presented in frequency and percent

values. The hypotheses were analyzed based on Pearson’s r correlation.

30

Chapter 3

Results and Discussion

Among the sample of 70 environmental journalists, 11 did not respond. Of the
59 that were successfully reached, a total of 18 responses were collected from e-
mail (30 per cent response rate). Thirty-four respondents out of 59 journalists
who participated in the phone survey responded to the open question (58 percent

response rate).

Research Question 1

What are the gender, age, and marital status of these reporters?

The largest number of responses came from reporters (88 percent). Twelve

percent were copy editors. The youngest journalist was 23 years old, and the

oldest 51. The average respondent was 35 years old. Fifty nine percent were

men and 41 percent women. Twenty-four respondents were married (41

percent), and about 42 percent were never married.

Research uestion 2

What is their educational background?

31

About 80 percent of the respondents received a bachelor’s degree. Sixty
percent studied communication sciences, which includes journalism. Ten percent
had high school as their maximum level of studies. Five per cent have a master’s
degree. Other fields of study include political science, law, and business

administration.

Research uestion 3

How much experience do they have in journalism? How much in environmental

journalism ?

About 50 percent of respondents had between one and five years of
experience writing environmental stories. Five respondents had 10 years or more

ofexpenence.

Research uestion 4

What percentage of their time do they spend writing about environment?

Seven percent of respondents spent more than three quarters of their time
on environmental stories. About 20 percent of respondents spent from half to
three quarters of their time on environmental stories. Forty-one percent of

respondents spent from a quarter to half of their time writing environmental

32

stories. Thirty-four of respondents spent less than a quarter of their time on

environmental stories.

Time spent on environmental articles

76-100%

   

 

less than 25%

   

26-50%

 

Figure 2. Time spent on environmental articles

Research uestion 5

How many environmental stories did they write during a year?

About 30 percent of respondents wrote more than 100 environmental
stories over a year. One fourth of respondents wrote between 50 and 100.
Twenty percent of the respondents produced between 20 and 50 environmental
stories. Another 20 percent of respondents wrote between 10 and 20

environmental stories.

33

Research Question 6

What are the topics they covered the most?

Forty-two percent of the respondents reported on water issues. Fifteen
percent of respondents wrote on garbage issues. Ten percent reported on health,
and another 10 percent on air pollution. Seven percent reported on toxic wastes,

followed by five percent who reported on forest issues.
Topics covered

heahh

 

   
   
 
 
 
 
   
 

fishery

  

law and environment

toxics

 
 

urban develop

 
 

air pollution

 
 
  

climate change

forest
garbage

 

Figure 3. Topics covered.

Research Question 7

What are the main problems they face in environmental reporting?

One fourth of respondents reported that no access to public information was
the main problem they face. Fifteen percent of the respondents reported the lack
of resources. Fourteen percent said that the lack of information is their main
problem. Other fourteen percent of the respondents reported the lack of space to
publish their stories. Ten percent said that the difficulty to find reliable information

was the main problem they face.

Problems reporters face

other

   
 
 
  
 

lack of interest on

 

  

lack of interest for
no access to informa

  

 

difficulty to find b

  

low salary

gOV pressure

 
 
 
 
 

dificulty to find

ack of information

 
 
 

lack of space to be

 
 

lack of resources to

 

Figure 4. Problems reporters face.

35

Research uestion 8

What are the sources they obtain information from?

Respondents were asked to select the frequency with which they used
government, industry, academic, and non profit organizations as sources.
Government was reported as the source of information used the most regularly.
Answers were measured through three scales from “never" (_1 point) to regularly
(3 points). Eighty percent of the respondents used government regularly, and 20
percent used it sometimes. About sixty percent of respondents used non profit
organizations regularly. Almost half of respondents used academic sources
frequently. Less than 20 percent used industry sources regularly. Surprisingly,
about 40 percent of respondents used academic sources sometimes and 15

percent reported never using academic sources.

Research Question 9

What is the section they work for within the newsroom?

Fifty-six percent of respondents worked for the local section. Twelve
percent worked for the environment section. Seven percent worked for the
agricultural section. Five percent of respondents worked for the national section,

and the other five percent for the society section. An additional 14 percent

36

worked for different sections, such as education, health, culture, and legislature.
About 90 percent of respondents reported that they were assigned to a variety of

beats, including the environment.

Section in the newspaper where you work

other

 

    
  

environment

  

society

science

 
 

agriculture

 
 

national

 

Figure 5. Section in the newspaper where reporters work.

Research Question 10

How many workshops for joumalists on environmental issues did they attend in

the past five years?

About 50 percent of respondents had never attended an environmental

journalism workshop. Another 44 percent attended between one and five

37

workshops on this topic. Five percent attended from six to 10 workshops, and

two percent attended between 11 and 15 workshops on environmental reporting.

Research uestion 11

What are their salaries?

Traditionally, the salaries of Mexican journalists have been low (Torres,
1999). About a third of the respondents earned less than $ 4,000 annually.
Another third of the respondents earned between $ 4,000 and $ 8,000, and the
final third of the respondents earned between $ 9,000 and 12,000 annually. Five
percent of respondents earned between $ 13,000 and 16,000. Another five
percent of respondents earned between $ 17,000 and $ 20,000. Two percent of
respondents earned more than $ 20,000 annually. This study excludes a
comparison with American journalists salaries, due to the economic differences

between Mexico and the United States.

Research uestion 12

Are they affiliated with a professional association? If not, what are the reasons

they expressed?

Less than 30 percent of the respondents knew of any association related to

environmental journalism. Fourteen percent of respondents did not trust

38

associations. Ten percent reported to be interested in being a member of an
association, but did not know how to get involved. Nine percent of the

respondents said that being a member of an association would affect their job.

Research Qgestion 13

What is the geographical distribution of the environmental reporters?

For this study, Mexico was divided into five geographical areas”: Center,
North, South, Gulf and Pacific slopes. One fourth of the respondents worked for
Mexico City newspapers. About 40 percent of newspapers were located in the
Center slope: Mexico City, Guanajuato, Morelos, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, and
the State of Mexico. About 30 percent of the newspapers were located in the
North slope: Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Nuevo Leon. The Pacific
area (almost 12 percent) includes Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero, followed by
the Gulf area (10 percent), which includes Tabasco and Tamaulipas. About five
percent of the newspapers were located in the Southern region: Campeche and

Yucatan (See Appendix C).

[Lesearch Qgestion 14

What similarities and different characteristics are there between Mexican and

American environmental joumalists?

39

In order to be able to compare Mexican and American environmental
journalists, the author previously selected characteristics and newsroom trends

from the Detjen et al (2000) study to design the questionnaire of this research.

Personal characteristics

The gender proportion is similar in both studies. Fifty-nine percent of Mexican
environmental reporters were male and 41 percent were female. Detjen et al
(2000) found that “sixty-four percent of respondents were male and 36 percent
were female.” For Americans, the average age was 40, for Mexicans, the

average age was 35. Mexican ages ranked from 23 to 51 years old.

Educational background

American environmental journalists have higher levels of education. About 94
percent of American environmental journalists had a college degree, and one
third had completed a master’s degree. In contrast, almost 60 percent of Mexican
journalists had earned a bachelor's degree. Ten percent had high school as a
maximum level of study. Five percent earned a master’s degree. The most
common major for both groups was journalism. Fifty-eight percent of Mexican
journalists studied journalism; seven percent studied political science. Thirty-four

percent studied law, economy, business administration and computer sciences.

40

Twenty-seven percent of American journalists majored in journalism, and 17
percent in English.

American journalists received more training. About 44 percent of Mexican
respondents had attended between one and five workshops on environmental
journalism. In contrast, almost 70 percent of the American newspaper
environmental reporters had attended at least one workshop.

Newsroom trends

-Time spent

American journalists spent more time on environmental coverage. Only
seven percent of Mexican reporters spent more than 75 percent of their time on
the environment. In contrast, a third of American environmental reporters spent

more than 75 percent of their time on the environment beat.

-Story output

The responses were divided into four categories, ranging from 1 to 20 articles
in the first category to more than 100 in the fourth category. Twenty-nine percent
of Mexican reporters produced more than 100 environmental stories over a year.
Similarly, 28 percent of American newspaper environmental reporters produced

more than 100 stories on the beat over a year.

-Expenence

41

Fifty percent of Mexican environmental journalists had between one and
five years of experience writing environmental stories. Similarly, nearly 40
percent of environmental reporters in the United States had worked on that beat

for less than five years.

-Problems of environmental reporters

Twenty-five percent of Mexican reporters reported that no access to public
information was the main problem they faced, followed by 14 percent who
reported lack of information as their main problem. In comparison, 40 percent of
the American reporters said the lack of resources for research and travel were

the main problems they faced.

-Topics of environmental stories

Forty-two percent of Mexican reporters said water was the topic they covered
the most over a year. Fifteen percent reported garbage problems as the topic
covered the most. In the United States water and air pollution were most likely to

be covered than any other topic.

15. Open question. Comment about environmental journalism in Mexico.

Fifty-two percent of the 59 environmental journalists responded to the open

question. One fourth of them perceived little interest by the media in

environmental journalism. Lack of space, the low priority of the environmental

42

beat, little interest from editors, and the lack of quality of the environmental
stories were aspects pointed out. Some reporters perceived that rotation from
one beat to another made it difficult to develop a specialization. A common
explanation from editors is that rotation from one beat to another is done to
prevent reporters from creating too close relationships and interests with their
sources of information.“1 One reporter said that the environmental stories have
had no impact on the governmental and public agenda. Personal willingness and
commitment from the reporters have been important factors to overcome the
problems they face.

About ten percent perceived that there is little interest in the topic by the
government. “Government don’t make industry comply with environmental
regulations because they generate jobs,” said one of the respondents. Another
respondent said that environmental problems remain unattended or minimized.
“It hurts that the government doesn’t do specific things for the environment. In
Mexicali, we have severe problems because of the garbage in the west part, the
pollution of the Rio Nuevo, the agricultural fields polluted with agrochemicals, the
air pollution that affects our health.”32

Environmental education and the promotion of an ecological culture need
to be strengthened among the public. About five percent of respondents
perceived that the environment is not important for the public.

Six percent of the respondents perceived that access to accurate public
information is an issue for them. One reporter said that the public information

obtained from the government is not reliable. Another said that the information is

43

not updated. In another case, a reporter said that it is very difficult to reach
federal authorities.

Nine percent of Mexican environmental journalists said that environmental
reporting is new that the beat is growing, but “there is a long way to go.” Two
reporters think that environmental journalism in Mexico “does not exist within the
media. It is the ecological awareness of the reporters their motivation behind
environmental stories”. Five percent said that training is important for them to

improve the quality of their reporting.

Hypotheses

This study found that for this population no relationship exists between the
size of the newspaper and the output of environmental stories; that there is a
weak direct correlation between the larger papers and the time spent on the beat;
and a moderate correlation between larger papers and training. The results
suggest that larger newspapers tend to train more reporters, and as a result of
this training, the time spent and output of environmental stories might tend to
increase. A weak correlation between the experience covering environmental

stories and the output of environmental stories was also found.

(H2)

Journalist
Training (r=.13)

+ weak

 
  

(r=.50) strong

 

 

(H1)

NP (r=.39) moderate +

Circulation—pTraining ___,Time spent P E. stories
Size (5.10) weak + /'(r=-.18) no relationshipf

     

(H3) (r=.05) weak +
Journalist
Expenence

45

Hypothesis 1

The larger the newspaper, the more environmental stories

The hypothesis was not supported. There is no a relationship between the
circulation size and the number of environmental stories produced. Pearson’s r
value showed a negative correlation. The value of -0.18 is not statistically

significant.

The larger the newspaper, the more time spent

The hypothesis was supported. Pearson’s r correlation of .10 shows

however, a weak positive relationship between the size circulation and the time

spent writing environmental stories.

The larger the newspaper, the more training

The hypothesis was supported. A Pearson’s r correlation of .39 showed a

moderate relationship between the size of the medium and the number of

workshops attended.

46

Hypothesis 2

The more training, the more time spent on environmental stories

The hypothesis was supported. A Pearson’s r correlation of .50 shows a
strong relationship between the number of workshops attended and the time

spent writing environmental stories.

The more training, the more environmental stories

The hypothesis was supported. A Pearson’s r correlation value of .13 shows

that there is a no significant relationship between the training and the number of

stories produced.

Hypothesis 3

The more experience, the more environmental stories

The hypothesis was supported. A Pearson’s r correlation of .05 shows a not

significant positive relationship between the experience and the number of

environmental stories produced.

47

Chapter 4

Summary and Conclusions

This study was designed to describe the characteristics of environmental
journalists in Mexican newspapers. An e-mail and phone survey was conducted
with a sample of 70 environmental journalists at 50 newspapers located at 15 of
the 32 states of Mexico. A total of 59 respondents (84 percent rate) were used for

this research.

Limitations

This study was limited to describing the profile of reporters most likely to
cover environmental news in Mexican newspapers. Future research could focus
on other type of media, such as radio, television, magazines and Internet.

Although this study found no direct relationship between the paper’s size
and the output of environmental stories from the reporter’s perspective, a content
analysis might complement this study.

The study method, an e-mail survey, may also have limitations in terms of
its efficiency. Despite more than four follow-up emails during a period of three
months, 70 percent of journalists did not respond to the questionnaire through '
this mean of communication. The researcher had to make a large number of
phone calls, -approximately 200 phone calls- in order to increase the response

rate.

48

In addition, this research focused on the quantity of environmental stories
written by Mexican environmental journalists. A future research might focus on

the reporter’s perception on the quality of environmental reporting.

Suggestions for future studies

This research described personal, educational and professional
characteristics of Mexican environmental journalists working for newspapers. In
addition, this study described the relationship between the size of the newspaper
and the reporters’ perception of output and time spent on environmental stories
as well as train on environmental journalism. Also, this research found similarities
between American and Mexican environmental journalists.

One of the problems that Mexican environmental journalists face is the
lack of access to public information. In June 2003, the Mexican Federal Law on
Transparency and Access to Public Information came into effect. A future
research might look at the impact of this law on the access of public
environmental information, and the output of environmental stories.

Topics of environmental stories varied according to the geographical
situation and local issues. A classification of the type of topics was not
considered in this study. A future research might focus on content analysis based

on the type of environmental topics covered by Mexican media.

49

Conclusions

Consistent with the message mediation theory, Mexican environmental
journalists face similar limitations and constraints, such as time, allocation of their
stories and budget, which are decided by editors and supervisors.

The average age for this group is 35. Almost 60 percent of the
reporters are male. Figures show that the age rank is wide, from 23 to 51. Only
seven percent spent more than three quarters of their time writing environmental
articles. One fourth wrote between 75 and 100 articles over a year. In general,
the reporter is hired to report about three or four beats, including the
environment. About 40 percent wrote about water, garbage, air pollution and
health; and water was the topic most covered. Fifty percent had between one
and five years of experience in environmental reporting.

About 60 percent earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism, whereas 10
per cent had high school as a maximum level of study. The majority of Mexican
environmental reporters studied communications in college. None had an
undergraduate background in science. Only two reporters had a master’s degree
in environmental engineering. These results are consistent with US. newsrooms,
where expertise in a sense of formal education seems not to be a “key element
to beat assignment.” 33

Little interest in being part of an association was shown by Mexican

journalists. Less than 30 per cent knew of any association in their field, and about

one fifth don’t trust in professional organizations.

50

Half of the reporters had not taken any workshop on environmental reporting,
whereas the other half have attended from one to five training sessions on this
field.

One fourth perceived the lack of access to public information as the main
problem they face. About one fifth think it is lack of information. Ten percent said
they have problems finding reliable information, whereas 13 percent said they
struggle in finding balanced information.

Despite the perception that Mexican environmental journalists face little
access to public information, the government was the source used more
frequently.

In terms of newspaper size the author divided small newspapers as those
with a circulation between 20,000 and 54,000, and large with a circulation
between 60,000 and 373.6000.

A similar proportion between small and large newspapers for the
environmental stories output was found. For example, 28 percent of small
newspaper environmental reporters wrote more than a 100 articles over a year.
Similarly, twenty-nine percent of large newspaper environmental reporters
produced the same number of stories.

Environmental journalism is a specialization growing in Mexico. Previous
research shows that environmental journalism, as a specialized beat within the
American newsrooms, wasn’t recognized until the late 19603. Since then, many
newspapers have created the position of full-time environmental reporter. In

comparison, a handful of Mexican newspapers have currently this position.

51

The proportion of Mexican men and women who are environmental
reporters is similar to American environmental journalists, about 60 percent male
versus 40 percent female.

Detjen et al (2000) study found that a third of American environmental
journalists spend more than 75 percent of their time on the environmental beat.
In contrast, Mexican environmental journalists spend less than 10 percent of their
time on environmental stories. As a result, American environmental reporters
should have produced more stories than Mexicans. However, this study found
that 28 percent of American environmental journalists produced the same
number of articles (more than 100 stories over a year) as Mexican environmental
reporters.

Environmental journalists in Mexico and in the United States share similar
problems, such as lack of time and lack of space. But for Mexican environmental
journalists lack of access to public information was the main problem they faced.

Since Mexican journalists do not usually have an educational background
in science, experience, time spent on environmental reporting and training are
important factors of specialization for this group. A Mexican environmental
journalist said to the researcher that will and personal interest in environmental
issues were important factors in covering environmental news, regardless of the

beat they are assigned to by their supervisors.

52

 

1 Journalists as the publisher of El Diario de Juarez, Ivan Restrepo, coordinator of La Jomada
Ecologica and researchers from the University of Colima gathered to discuss the importance of
the environmental journalism. Another recommendation was to promote investigative reporting in
this new field and go beyond the official declaration. The conference was reported on the
Mexican Journal of Communication.

2 (Chapell 2002), (Doyle 2003).

3 El universal on line, interview with political analyst Sergio Sarrniento about Mexican.
Published at: [http:l/estadis.eluniversal.com.mxlgraficoslsergiosarmientolperiodismoenmexico]

‘ Chappell H. Lawson, Building the Fourth Estate: Democratization and the rise of a free press
in Mexico, University of California Press (2002), p. 3.

5 lbid. p.5
6 lbid. p.13
7 lbid. p. 29

° lbid. p. 28
9 lbid. p. 44

1°lbid. p48
“ Ibid p. 62.

‘2 The reporter covering the environment for El Heraldo in San Luis Potosi told the author he
didn’t know if the new owner would also keep the staff.

13Interview conducted by phone in Mexico City in August 12, 2002. Ivan Restrepo is the
coordinator of the weekly Magazine Jomada Ecologica published since 1991 by La Jomada. He
is a writer on environmental issues for La Jomada. Restrepo is a specialist in economical
agriculture and director and researcher of the Center of Ecology and Development, an
independent environmental organization; La Jomada is considered a liberal newspaper.

1‘Susana Guzman, “The Role of the Environmental Communication in Journalism,”
unpublished bachelor’s degree thesis of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, 1996.

15Interviewed by the author in Mexico City in August 2002.
16Interviewed by the author in Mexico City in August 2002.

‘7 Fracisco J. Torres. Op Cit. p. 45.

Michigan State University emeritus professor Mary Gardner trained Mexican young
journalists for the El Norte newspaper in the 19803.

‘9 Shoemaker, Influence on Media... p.65.

53

 

20Sharon M. Friedman, “Environmental Journalism Education: A Growing Enterprise," Paper
presented at the AEJMC Annual Meeting, Atlanta, August 11, 1994: 2.

21David Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, “T he American Journalist in the 19903,“ preliminary
report released at The Freedom Forum World Center, Arlington, Va., November 17, 1992: 3.

22Lee Becker et al., “Why does the beat 90 on?” Newspaper Research Journal, 21 :4 (2000): 2-
16. Becker challenges the common finding that increasing the size influences the structural
differentiation within a news organization. Becker et al found that an increased number of beats is
related more to the geographical, rather than a subject differentiation. This study aims at finding
the extent of environmental coverage between large and small newspapers.

23Sachsman et al., “The Environment Reporters of New England,” Science Communication,
(june 2002): 411; David Coulson, Charles St. Cyr, and Stephen Lacy, “City Hall reporter’s
evaluation of coverage,” Newspaper Research Journal, (summer 2000): 2 (electronic version).

“Sharon M. Friedman, op. cit.,: 1.

25Sachsman et al.,“T he Environment Reporters of New England,” Science Communication,
23:4, 410-441. Sachsman found a Pearson's r of .464. (p< .001) in a study of New England’s 82
daily newspapers. Sachsman, D.B., Simon, J., 8. Valenti, J.M. (2002).

26Jim Detjen, “Environment News: Where is it going?” The Alfred and Julia Hill Lecture series
on science, society and the mass media, (1995). Detjen wrote that environmental journalism
training is very important for journalists to better communicate the environmental issues.

27The author used the concept of environmental journalist of Tony Atwater’s study on

environmental journalism in the United States. The same concept will be used for environmental
story.

28David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, “The American Journalist: A Portrait of US.
News People and Their Work,” Bloomington, Indiana University Press, (1986): 216.

29This research received the approval of the University Committee on Research Involving
Human Subjects’ (UCRIHS) at Michigan State University from January 2, 2003 to December 2,
2003. A renewal was approved in January 2004 (IRB# 02-983).

3"’The geographical distribution is based on the book: Mexican History Mexico City, El Colegio
de Mexico, (2000).

31Pia Fernanda De Ezcurdia, “The study case of the Ecology-Politics-Culture Magazine,”
Unpublished bachelor’s degree thesis, lberoamericana University, Mexico, (1992):70.

32Cite from an open question of this study.

33Becker, op. cit.

Bibliography

55

Bibliography

Ader, C. R. (1995). Longitudinal Study of Agenda Setting for the Issue of

Environmental Pollution. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 72,
300-31 1.

Atwater, T., Salwen, M.B., & Anderson, RB, (1985). Media Agenda-Setting
with Environmental Issues. Journalism Quarterly), 393-397.

Becker, L., Lowrey, W., Claussen, D., & Anderson, W. (2000). Why does the
beat go on? Newspaper Research Journal, 21 :4, 2-16.

Blau, P. M., & Schoenherr, RA. The Structure of Organizations. New York: Basic
Books, 1971. (Cited in Becker, 2000).

Detjen, J., Fico, F., Li, X., & Kim, Y. (2000). Changing Work Environment of
Environmental Reporters. Newspaper Research Journal, 21:1, 3-12.

Detjen, J. (1995). Environmental News: Where is it Going? Alfred and Julia
Hill Lectures series on science, society and the mass media. School of
Journalism, College of Communications, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Editor and Publisher lntemational Year Book. (2001).

Environmental Journalism Survey. (1995). Executive Summary by
MGA/Thompson, Inc. for Duquesne University, Pennsylvania.

Foundation for American Communications. (1993). The Press and the

Environment: How Journalists Evaluate Environmental Reporting. Summary of
Findings by American Opinion Research, Inc.

Friedman, SM. (1994). Environmental Journalism Education: A Growing
Enterprise. Paper presented at the AEJMC conference, Atlanta.

56

 

Guzman, S. (1997). The Role of the Environmental Communication in
Journalism. Unpublished bachelor’s degree thesis. Mexico: National Autonomous
University of Mexico.

Hannigan, J.A. (1995). News Media and Environmental Communication.
Environmental Sociolpgy. NY: Routledge.

Martinez, C. (1990). Media, Journalism and Environment. Mexico: Ebert
Stiftung Foundation.

Mexican Advertising Media Directory. (2002). MPM Advertising Directories.
Mexico City: Mexican Advertising Media, Inc., 175.

Mexican History. (2000). Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico.

Mexican Journal of Communication. (1992). Promoting an ecological culture
through the media, 4:24, 23-24. Mexico: Buendia Foundation.

Pia, F. (1992). Case study of the Ecology-Politics-Culture Magazine.
Unpublished bachelors degree thesis, lberoamerican University, Mexico.

Ramirez, P. (1992). The ecology: An unreported topic by the media?:
Knowing to preserving the environment? Mexican Journal of Communication,
Spring, 18-19.

Sachsman, D.B., Simon, J., & Valenti, J.M. (2002). The Environment
Reporters of New England. Science Communication, 23:4, 410-441.

Shoemaker, P.J., & Reese, SD. (1991). Mediating the Message: Theories of
Influence on Mass Media Content. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Shoenfeld, C. (1983). The Environmental Movement as Reflected in the
American Magazine. Journalism Quarterly.

57

Torres, F.J. (1999). Mexican Journalism: A Hard Light For Its Integrity.
(Ardua lucha por su integridad). Mexico City: Coyoacan, Editions, Inc.

Weaver, D. 8. Wilhoit, GC. (1986). The American Journalist: A Portrait of
US. News People and Their Work. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Weaver, D. & Wilhoit, 6.0. (1992). The American Journalists in the 19903. A
preliminary report released at the Freedom Forum World Center, Arlington, Va.

Witt, W. (1974). The Environmental Reporter on US Daily Newspapers.
Journalism Quarterly, 697-704.

Zucker, H. G. (1978). The Variable Nature of News Media Influence.
Communication Yearbook, 2, 225-245. NJ: Transaction. Cited in Ader, 1995.

58

APPENDICES

59

 

Appendix A

Reguest Cover Letter

Dear Journalist:

Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. I am Susana Guzman, a
journalism master’s student at Michigan State University. I am doing my
master’s thesis on a “Portrait of the environmental journalists in Mexican
newspapers.”

In order to get a better understanding of environmental journalism in Mexico, this
study aims to find out information about the reporters covering the environmental
issues in the largest Mexican newspapers. Knowing the problems and challenges
that environmental journalists face in a daily basis will allows researchers to find
out ways to improve the environmental reporting in Mexico.

The questionnaire contains by 25 questions. Responding to the questionnaire will
take about 25 minutes. Your answers will remain confidential. You may refuse to
answer any specific survey questions, if you choose to. Data gathered for this
survey will be reported only in the aggregate so the journalists will not be
identified or associated with the data collected.

Your participation in this study is voluntary. Please be assured that your
responses will remain confidential and will not be used for any other purpose
than this study. Neither you nor your newspaper will ever be specifically identified
in reports about this study. Please know that completing the questions and
submitting them will be tantamount to consent to helping with this study.

In case you have questions or concerns about your rights as a research
participant, you can contact Ashir Kumar, Michigan State University’s Chair of
University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects at (517) 355-2180,

or through e-mail at UCRIHS@msu.edu or through mail at UCRIHS, 202 Olds
hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 - 01046, USA.

Again, I appreciate your time and your understanding about my endeavor. I
would appreciate it if you would complete and return the questionnaire to me at

guzmans1@msu.edu by February 28, 2003.

Thank you.
Sincerely,

Susana Guzman

60

Appendix 8

E-mail and phone sgrvey pn Mexican Newspapers’ Environmental Journalists

 

QUESTIONNAIRE:
NEWSROOM

1. Name of the newspaper you work for:

 

2. Position: (Please, check)

Reporter
Editor

3. In what year did you begin working for this news organization?
4. How many years have you worked in environmental coverage?

5. If editor, what percentage of your time do you spend writing about
environment? (Please check)

Less than 25% 26 to 50%
51 to 75% 76 to 100%

6. If reporter, what percentage of your time do you spend writing about
environment? (Please check)

Less than 25% 26 to 50%
51 to 75% 76 to 100%,

7. What is/are the beat you work for within the newsroom? (If necessary, please
rank them in order with 1 being the beat you work most, 2 being the beat you
work second most frequently, etc.)

Local

National

Agriculture -

Science

Society

Health
Environment/Ecology
Other (Please specify)

61

8. How many articles about environmental issues did you write in 2002? (Please
check)

None ; 1to5 ; 6to 10 ; 11 t020 ;
21 to 50 ; 51 to 100 ; more than 100 ;

9. What are the sources you obtain information from? (Please check)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Environmental groups: Never ; Sometimes ; Often
Government agencies: Never ; Sometimes , Often
Business and industry: Never ; Sometimes ; Often
Academy: Never ; Sometimes , Often
Other media: Never ; Sometimes , Often

 

10. Choose the five topics you covered most heavily in 2002 and rank them in
order with 1 being the topic you covered most, 2 being the topic you covered
second most frequently, etc.

Air pollution
Biodiversity
Climate change
Endangered animals
Energy issues
Defense issues
Fishing issues
Forestry

Land use
Legislative or regulatory issues
Natural disasters

Hazardous wastes
International issues

Nuclear power
Pesticides
Population
Recycling
Solid waste issues
Sustainable development
Urban development
Water issues
Wetlands

Wildlife issues
Other (Please specify)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

62

11. Regardless of the environmental topics you have covered, what in your
opinion are the most important environmental problems in Mexico? (You may
want to either use the list in question 10 or add a topic that has not been
considered). Please, list no more than five topics.

 

 

12. What are the main problems you face in environmental reporting? (Please
rank them from the most to the least, if necessary).

No access to information

Lack of information

Lack of time

Lack of resources for research and travel
Lack of communication with scientists
Lack of space to publish the stories
Difficulty in finding reliable sources
Pressure from industry
Pressure from government
Low salary or compensation
Difficulty in finding unbiased sources
Other (Please specify)

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. Are you affiliated with a professional association? (Please check)
Yes ; No :
If yes, please specify which one

 

 

 

If not, please select the reasons you are not part of a professional association
Please check the following options:

I do not know any professional association in my field
It might affect my job position
I do not trust professional associations
I am interested but I do not know how to get involved in a professional
association

Other (Please specify)

 

 

 

14. How do you get informed about the daily news (including environmental
news) besides the newspaper at which you work? (Please specify the name of
the medium or program and if it is local or national).

Local ; National ;
Newspapers
Television newscasts

Political issues magazine
On-Iine newspapers

 

63

 

Radio
Other (Please specify)

 

BACKGROUND
15. Highest educational level completed (Please check)

High School ; Bachelors ; Masters ;
PhD ; Other (Please specify) ;

16. Undergraduate major (Please check)

Journalism ; Political Science_; Science_; History__;
Economics ; Psychology__:
Other (Please specify)

17. Where did you study your bachelor’s degree? (Please check)

Public School ; Private School ;

 

Please, specify the name of the School

 

18. How many years have you worked in journalism?

19. How many workshops for journalists on environmental issues have you
attended in the past five years? (Please check)

None ;1t05 ;6t010 ;11to15 ;Morethan15 ;
20. What type of environmental journalism training have you received? (Please
check)

None ; College course ; Workshop ;

DEMOGRAPHIC

21. Where were you born?

 

22. How old are you?

 

23. Gender: (Please check) Male ; Female ;

 

24. Marital status: (Please check) Married ; Single ; Other

25. Which category best represents your annual salary in dollars? (Please check)

Less than $4,000 (US) ; $4.000 to $8,000__;
$9,000 to $12,000 ; $13,000 to $16,000 ;
$17,000 to $20,000 ; More than $20,000 ;

26. Do you want to make a short comment about the environmental journalism in
Mexico?

 

 

 

 

 

65

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     

Appendix C. Geographical distribution of environmental journalists in Mexico.

 

1 Aguascalientes
2 Baja California
3 Campeche
4 Coahuila
5 Chihuahua
6 Distrito Federal
7 Guanajuato
8 Guerrero
9 Jalisco
10 Estado de Mexico
11 Michoacan
, 12 Morelos
; 13 Nuevo Leon ‘
""T“ ‘ 14 Puebla '
y ' 15 San Luis Potosi
5'9““W 16 Tabasco
1' 17 Tamaulipas
Yucatan
l'A C‘lHC OCEAN:
1'. ' e
I ‘1
a ’l—f—‘i‘.’
D 'N
T'.
. -_-)I_Lt -4.“ _

 

 

 

 

 

 

66

   

lljllljijijjljjllljjljjl