Fire as friend or foe : the role of scientists in balancing media coverage of fires in National Parks

dc.contributor.authorSmit, Izak P.J.
dc.contributor.authorJoubert, Marina
dc.contributor.authorSmith, Kyle
dc.contributor.authorVan Wilgen, Nicola
dc.contributor.authorStrydom, Tercia
dc.contributor.authorBaard, Johan
dc.contributor.authorHerbst, Marna
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-01T09:02:36Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractFire can destroy infrastructure and livelihoods, and claim lives. Yet, fire is inevitable and plays several vital ecological roles that have shaped ecosystems over millennia. Planned fires also serve human needs. Critical media content analysis of 390 media reports (print, online and broadcast) on fires in South African National Parks over a three-year period were used to investigate the portrayal of fire by the mass media. We found a strong emphasis on reactive fire suppression along with a predominantly negative sentiment towards fire (93.9% of total media reach) focussing primarily on losses, destruction and the threat of fires to infrastructure, human health or lives and vegetation. In the few cases where scientists were involved (2.3% of total reach), the narrative, sentiment and images provided a more nuanced perspective of fire as having both detrimental and beneficial consequences (63.6%), imparting key fire ecology concepts to understand fire behaviour better and highlighting the importance of proactive fire-risk reduction measures. Given the influence of the mass media on the views and opinions of the public and policymakers, and its socio-political and management consequences, we conclude that scientists and journalists should do more to engage with one another. We provide pathways and tips to scientists on how to increase their media footprint to promote a more balanced media portrayal of fire.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentZoology and Entomologyen_ZA
dc.description.embargo2022-11-24
dc.description.librarianhj2022en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tarf20en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationIzak PJ Smit, Marina Joubert, Kyle Smith, Nicola van Wilgen, Tercia Strydom, Johan Baard & Marna Herbst (2022): Fire as friend or foe: The role of scientists in balancing media coverage of fires in National Parks, , African Journal of Range & Forage Science, 39:1, 136-147, DOI: 10.2989/10220119.2021.1991473.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1022-0119 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1727-9380 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.2989/10220119.2021.1991473
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/83552
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherNISC (Pty) Ltd and Informa UK Limited (trading as Taylor & Francis Group)en_ZA
dc.rights© NISC (Pty) Ltd. This is an electronic version of an article published in African Journal of Range and Forage Science, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 136-147, 2022, doi : 10.2989/10220119.2021.1991473. African Journal of Range and Forage Science is available online at : http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tarf20.en_ZA
dc.subjectFire perceptions and policyen_ZA
dc.subjectImpact of science on mediaen_ZA
dc.subjectMedia framing and biasen_ZA
dc.subjectScience communicationen_ZA
dc.subjectWildfiresen_ZA
dc.titleFire as friend or foe : the role of scientists in balancing media coverage of fires in National Parksen_ZA
dc.typePostprint Articleen_ZA

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