Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T14:21:20.715Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Queensland's broad-scale land-clearing policy debate, 1998–2006: An analysis of evidence-based arguments in news media content

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2018

Nathan Laurent  and
Lee Duffield
Nathan Laurent
Affiliation:
[email protected]
Lee Duffield
Affiliation:
[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This article outlines the methodology and key findings of a media content analysis of news reporting in the Courier-Mail and Queensland Country Life on the issue of broad-scale land-clearing (BSLC) in Queensland during the period 1998–2006. The case study identifies and examines evidence-based arguments made by stakeholders in the public policy debate surrounding BSLC, including elected officials and judges, interest groups, government agencies, scientists, business owners and individuals, such as academics. In both newspapers, it was noted that throughout the period under review, arguments made on environmental grounds in favour of the policy goal of maximum immediate conservation tended to be concerned with establishing an accurate definition of the BSLC problem. However, reporting of arguments made on political and economic grounds reflected stark differences between the two newspapers. The findings of this study support observations that some participants in a contest over new policy may dispute (persistently, and regardless of previous developments) the validity of: (1) definitions of a problem; (2) proposed policy solutions; (3) matters of detail or technical application; and (4) the enactment and implementation of legislation.

Type
General articles
Information
Queensland Review , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , June 2018 , pp. 70 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2002. Measuring Australia's progress, cat. no. 1370.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Bell, J. 2011. ‘Tree clearing, hunger strikes and Kyoto targets: The need for a middle ground’. Environmental and Planning Law Journal 28, 201–12.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. L. 1990. ‘Toward a theory of press–state relations in the United States’, Journal of Communication 40, 103–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boykoff, M. T. 2011. Who speaks for the climate? Making sense of media reporting on climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Boykoff, M. T. and Boykoff, J. M. 2004. ‘Balance as bias: Global warming and the US prestige press’. Global Environmental Change 14, 125–36.Google Scholar
Christians, C. G., Glasser, T. L., McQuail, D., Nordenstreng, K and White, R. A. 2009. Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, C. A., Nownes, A. J. and Johnson, M. 2007. ‘Interest groups and journalists in the States’. State Politics & Policy Quarterly 7, 39–53.Google Scholar
Dearing, J. W. 1995. ‘Newspaper coverage of maverick science: Creating controversy through balancing’. Public Understanding of Science 4, 341–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) 2003. Land cover change in Queensland 1999–2001. Brisbane: DNRM Queensland.Google Scholar
Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation (DSITI) Queensland 2015. Land cover change in Queensland 2012–13 and 2013–14: Statewide land cover and trees study. Brisbane: DSITI Queensland.Google Scholar
Dyer, G. 2012. ‘Newspaper circulation carnage: Biggest March fall on record’. Crikey, 11 May, http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/05/11/newspaper-circulation-carnage-biggest-march-fall-on-record, accessed 1 December 2016.Google Scholar
Earle, T. R. 1986. Evaluation of policy analysis models using a longitudinal study of land management, unpublished PhD thesis, Griffith University.Google Scholar
Fairfax Staff Writer 1998. ‘Leaders have their say: Govt needs clear policy and answers’. Queensland Country Life, 11 June.Google Scholar
Fairfax Staff Writer 2005. ‘Farm greenhouse contribution overlooked’. Queensland Country Life, 24 February.Google Scholar
Fairfax Media 2011. Queensland Country Life media kit 2011–2012 (Brisbane: Fairfax Media, 2011).Google Scholar
Fico, F. 1984. ‘How lawmakers use reporters: Differences in specialization and goals’, Journalism Quarterly 61, 793.Google Scholar
Fisher, J. R. 1991. ‘News media functions in policy making’. Canadian Journal of Communication 16, 139–45.Google Scholar
Gruszczynski, M. W. and Michaels, S. 2012. ‘The evolution of elite framing following enactment of legislation’. Policy Sciences 45, 359–84.Google Scholar
Hansen, A. 2015. ‘Communication, media and the social construction of the environment’. In Hansen, A. and Cox, R. (eds), The Routledge handbook of environment and communication. New York: Routledge, pp. 26–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herman, J. R. (ed.) 2007. State of the news print media in Australia: A supplement to the 2006 report. Sydney: Australian Press Council.Google Scholar
Howland, D., Becker, M. L. and Prelli, L. J. 2006. ‘Merging content analysis and the policy sciences: A system to discern policy-specific trends from news media reports’. Policy Sciences 39, 205–31.Google Scholar
Jann, W. and Wegrich, K. 2007. ‘Theories of the policy cycle’. In Fischer, F., Miller, G. J. and Sidney, M. S. (eds), Handbook of public policy analysis. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 43–62.Google Scholar
Jones, B. D. and Wolfe, M. 2010. ‘Public policy and the mass media: An information processing approach’. In Koch-Baumgarten, S. and Voltmer, K. (eds), Public policy and the mass media: The interplay of mass communication and political decision making. New York: Routledge, pp. 17–43.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, M. and Phillips, L. (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Kehoe, J. A. 2006. ‘Land clearing in Queensland’. Environmental and Planning Law Journal 23, 148–57.Google Scholar
Kehoe, J. A. 2014. The making and implementation of environmental laws in Queensland: The Vegetation Management Act 1999 (Qld) and the Land Act 1994 (Qld), unpublished PhD thesis, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Lambeth, E. B. 1978. ‘Perceived influence of the press on energy policy making’. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 55, 11–72.Google Scholar
Lasswell, H. D. 1971. A pre-view of policy sciences. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Lindenmayer, D. and Burgman, M. A. 2005. Practical conservation biology. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.Google Scholar
McAlpine, C. A., Fensham, R. J. and McIntyre, S. 2002. ‘Sustainable management of Queensland landscapes: Linking the science and action (Guest Editorial)’. The Rangeland Journal 24, 3–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCosker, M. (1998). ‘Mixed political bag shapes the bush’. Queensland Country Life, 31 December.Google Scholar
McGrath, C. J. 2002–03. ‘Summary and critical analysis of major vegetation management laws in Queensland’. Queensland Environmental Practice Reporter 8, 86– 102.Google Scholar
McGrath, C. J. 2006-07. ‘End of broadscale clearing in Queensland’. Queensland Environmental Practice Reporter 12, 176–84.Google Scholar
McKenna, M., Franklin, M., Odgers, R. and Greber, J. 1999. ‘Green energy blue brews’. Courier-Mail, 30 November.Google Scholar
McKnight, D. 2010. ‘A change in the climate? The journalism of opinion at News Corporation’, Journalism 11, 693–706.Google Scholar
Miller, M. M. and Riechert, B. P. 2009. ‘Interest group strategies and journalistic norms: News media framing of environmental issues’, in Allan, S., Adam, B. and Carter, C. (eds), Environmental risks and the media. New York: Routledge, pp. 45–54.Google Scholar
Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Norton, P. 2013. ‘Environmental politics and policy in Queensland under Labor, 1998–2012’. Queensland Review 20, 52–68.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. 2006. ‘News as a form of knowledge’. In Adam, G. S. and Clark, P. (eds), Journalism: The democratic craft. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 225–36.Google Scholar
Queensland Country Life 2006. Speech given to 2006 Property Rights Australia AGM by M. Thomson.Google Scholar
Rolfe, J. C. 2000. ‘Broadscale tree clearing in Queensland’. Agenda 7, 219–36.Google Scholar
Rose, M. and Baumgartner, F. R. 2013. ‘Framing the Poor: Media coverage and U.S. poverty policy, 1960–2008’, Policy Studies Journal 41, 22–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, N. 1997. Vegetation clearing and greenhouse: A preliminary assessment of benefits of ending land clearing in Australia to curb greenhouse gas emissions (Sydney: World Wide Fund for Nature Australia.Google Scholar
Ryan, S. 1999a. ‘Dirt poor’/ Courier-Mail, 3 July.Google Scholar
Ryan, S. 1999b. ‘Queensland fast becoming a sorry state of bio-adversity’. Courier-Mail, 8 November.Google Scholar
Ryan, S. 2000. ‘Farmers face $240M clearing bill’. Courier-Mail, 12 September.Google Scholar
Shanahan, E. A., McBeth, M. K., Hathaway, P. L. and Arnell, R. J. 2008. ‘Conduit or contributor? The role of media in policy change theory’. Policy Sciences 41, 115–38.Google Scholar
Soroka, S. N., Farnsworth, S., Lawlor, A. and Young, L. 2012. ‘Mass media and policy-making’. In Araral, E., Fritzen, S., Howlett, M., Ramesh, M. and Wu, X. (eds), Routledge handbook of public policy. New York: Routledge, pp. 204–14.Google Scholar
State of the Environment Advisory Council (1996). Australia state of the environment. Melbourne: CSIRO.Google Scholar
Sullivan, M. 2012. ‘He said, she said, and the truth’. New York Times, 16 September.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. F. J. 2015. Bushland destruction rapidly increasing in Queensland. Sydney: World Wide Fund for Nature Australia.Google Scholar
Voltmer, K. and Koch-Baumgarten, S. 2010. ‘Introduction: Mass media and public policy — is there a link?’ in Koch-Baumgarten, S. and Voltmer, K. (eds), Public policy and the mass media: The interplay of mass communication and political decision making. New York: Routledge, pp. 1–13.Google Scholar
Zelizer, B. 2014. ‘Memory as foreground, journalism as background’. In Zelizer, B. and Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K. (eds), Journalism and memory. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 32–49.Google Scholar