Print media covergae of environmental issues in the western ghats Varna M.1, Poornananda D.S.2 1Research Scholar, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kuvempu University, Shankarghatta-577451, Karnataka, India 2Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kuvempu University, Shankarghatta-577451, Karnataka, India Online published on 2 September, 2019. Abstract The Western Ghats are extraordinarily rich source of plant and animal species. They have a huge diversity of natural, semi-natural and agro ecosystems with less than six percent of the land area of India and contain more than 30 percent of all plant, fish, fauna, bird, and mammal species found in India. They are also home to various medicinal plants. At present, environmental issues pertaining to degradation of Western Ghats are being debated in the country. Media play a pivotal role in shaping perception and awareness of environmental issues. This study aims to analyses the role of newspapers in covering environmental issues of the Western Ghats. There is a need to examine how the major English dailies have been reporting issues related to the Western Ghats. An analysis of content in two national English dailies, The Hindu and the Deccan Herald, revealed that the coverage of environmental issues in the two dailies was negligible. In comparison Deccan Herald, a newspaper with greater regional focus, gave more coverage to the environmental news than The Hindu Newspaper Top Keywords Newspaper, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, Environmental issues, Western Ghats, Content analysis. Top |