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Why Is It Washing Away? Advocacy Groups and the Framing of Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands Loss in Local Newspapers

Louisianas coastal wetlands provide a habitat for diverse wildlife, recreational opportunities for Louisiana residents and tourists, and an important natural buffer between communities and powerful hurricanes. Because they are disappearing at a rapid rate, coastal wetlands issues have been prominent in south Louisiana for decades. The catastrophic hurricanes of 2005 and 2008 have given the discussion an increased sense of urgency.
Through this paper, I explore coverage of wetlands loss in local south Louisiana daily newspapers. Specifically, I try to determine how these papers frame the issue and illuminate how sources present in these stories participate in the construction of those frames. I then discuss the advocacy group Americas WETLANDs role as a newspaper source, how the group developed and maintains its message, and the relationship between that message and the groups sponsors. Finally, I interview journalists who cover the issue for newspapers in south Louisiana and the managing director of Americas WETLAND.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11112009-230423
Date12 November 2009
CreatorsHarang, Paul
ContributorsMann, Jr., Robert Townley, Osborne, Anne Cunningham, Goidel, Robert Kirby
PublisherLSU
Source SetsLouisiana State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11112009-230423/
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