AL GORE, THE SOCIETY OF ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS and ADVOCACY

For background, please see the following links:
http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/sej_accused_of_protecting_gore.php
http://sej2009.sej.org/2009/10/polar-bears-censorship.html

Phelim McAleer claims SEJ members and environment reporters in general are not tough on their sources. My dissertation suggests otherwise.

A baseline study of advocacy and investigative reporting about the environment, I found 14 consistent themes among authors of this kind of journalism. They are: (1) it is time-consuming, (2) labor intensive, (3) requires hard evidence collection including documents and records to support claims, (4) is motivated by a quest for truth, (5) is motivated by a watchdog committment to truth, (6) includes stories that reveal and/or stem from wrongdoing, (7) regularly involves 16-hour days, (8) demands the journalist operate on not enough sleep often, (9) the journalists are motivated by a desire to work toward something they believe in, (10) the task requires tenacity, humility and excellent organization, (11) it also requires a sense of justice and injustice, (12) requires the ability to ask the right question, (13) demands the skill of thinking fast under pressure, and (14) demands a sense of humor of the journalist.

The 14 consistent themes in the qualitative study were identified by coupling grounded theory with phenomenology to produce a mid-range concept aimed at illuminating narrative lines connected to advocacy or not.

A link to my dissertation is listed on the right.