Окружающая среда в зеркале масс-медиа. Практика беларусских СМИ по отражению вопросов окружающей среды и деятельности экологических организаций
The environment in the mirror of the mass media. The practice of the Belarusian mass media in covering environmental issues and the activities of environmental organizations

Author(s): Andrey Egorov, Alena Zuykova, Andrey Shutov
Subject(s): Media studies, Energy and Environmental Studies
Published by: Центр европейской трансформации
Summary/Abstract: Issues of ecology, the state of the environment, nature protection occupy an increasing place in modern human activity. Since the 1980s, there has been a general ideological shift towards the "greening" of all spheres of life: from changes in the structure of production and consumption, the emergence of new technologies, alternative energy to the environmentalization of lifestyles and everyday behavior. The need to preserve the environment on a global scale has led to an increase in the importance of environmental issues in international politics, the adoption by national states of common environmental standards, a conceptual review of the foundations of economics ("green economy") and politics (obligatory participation of citizens in making environmentally significant decisions). At the same time, in Belarus, with widespread public understanding of the importance of environmental issues, these issues are far from the first place on the social and political agenda. According to public opinion polls, only 2.5% of Belarusians put ecology on the first place in the list of areas most in need of reform. Such a situation is determined not only (and not so much) by the objective state of affairs and the priority for society of other issues of the country's development, but by the attitudes of the main subjects forming the agenda. State policy, the activities of civil society organizations, the priority of displaying certain topics on the pages and screens of the mass media largely shape the Belarusian society's view of ecology.

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