This article was downloaded by: [University of Windsor]On: 19 November 2014, At: 21:08Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Applied Environmental Education &CommunicationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ueec20

The Public Discourse About Land Use andWater Quality: Themes in Newspapers inthe Upper Mississippi River BasinAndrea N. Schmid a , Jan R. Thompson a & David N. Bengston ba Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management , IowaState University , Ames, Iowa, USAb Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service , St. Paul,Minnesota, USAPublished online: 14 Sep 2007.

To cite this article: Andrea N. Schmid , Jan R. Thompson & David N. Bengston (2007) ThePublic Discourse About Land Use and Water Quality: Themes in Newspapers in the UpperMississippi River Basin, Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 6:2, 187-196, DOI:10.1080/15330150701598270

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15330150701598270

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 6:187–196, 2007Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1533-015X print / 1533-0389 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15330150701598270

The Public Discourse About Land Use and Water

Quality: Themes in Newspapers in the Upper

Mississippi River Basin

Andrea N. Schmid and Jan R. Thompson, Department of Natural

Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

David N. Bengston, Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, St. Paul,

Minnesota, USA

Effective educational and management programs to improve water quality willrequire an improved understanding of public perceptions of the relationshipbetween land use and water quality. We analyzed a large database of newspaperarticles in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to assess the public discourse aboutwater quality and land use, and gauge indirectly public perceptions. Most articlesfocused on water quality improvement and many expressed readiness to take actionto protect water quality. Environmental education and communication effortsaimed at improving water quality should be explicit about relationships betweenspecific land uses and water quality to increase awareness and acceptance ofmanagement practices.

INTRODUCTION

Impaired surface water quality is a top environ-mental concern among scientists and citizensalike, particularly in the Midwestern UnitedStates (e.g., Hanson et al., 1997; Frost, 2004).Federal legislation such as the Water PollutionControl Act, the Clean Water Act, and the SafeDrinking Water Act demonstrate policymakers’historic concern for water quality and reflectsocietal goals to restore and maintain the in-tegrity of the nation’s waters. Although signifi-

Address correspondence to Jan R.Thompson, 339 Science II, Iowa StateUniversity, Ames, IA 50011-3221, USA. E-mail:jrrt@iastate.edu

cant improvements have been made in control-ling point-source pollution, non-point-sourcepollution is still a major problem (Daniels &Daniels, 2003). In the Midwest, the landscape isdominated by agriculture and the physical, bi-ological, and chemical effects of extensive agri-cultural activities on water quality reach well be-yond the region’s geographic boundaries.

On a global scale, one well-known indicatorof non-point-source pollution is hypoxia in sev-eral collecting water bodies (Service, 2004). Hy-poxia is the result of nutrient over-enrichment(Mitsch et al., 2001), leading to increases in phy-toplankton growth that result in seasonal deple-tion of oxygen levels. Hypoxia has direct andnegative impacts on commercial fisheries, andadditional impacts are just beginning to be stud-ied (Ferber, 2004). Much of the nutrient load

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

188 A. N. SCHMID ET AL.

reaching the Gulf of Mexico in particular hasbeen attributed to management practices usedin Midwestern agricultural production (Mitschet al., 2001). Regional- and local-scale waterquality concerns include source water protec-tion (for example, controlling nitrate levels indrinking water used by municipalities) and im-paired waters (303d-listed water bodies), whichinclude nutrient as well as sediment and bioticwater quality criteria for a wider range of wateruses (Lowrance et al., 2002; Wagner, 2005).

Given these concerns at global, regional,and local levels, strategic solutions are neededthat minimize pollution of surface waters leav-ing the Mississippi River Basin. In order to de-velop effective practices, educational programsand policies to address this issue, it will be impor-tant to understand the social context, includingthe public’s understanding of relationships be-tween land use, land management, and waterquality. Educators and managers need to under-stand public perceptions of land use and waterquality relationships, and to gauge the publicresponse to alternative management practices,programs, and policies.

One indicator of the public understand-ing of land use and water quality is the massmedia. Environmental issues have been in themedia spotlight for decades, and newspapers inparticular have been a primary source of envi-ronmental information for the public (Rubin& Sachs, 1973; Atwater et al., 1985; Anderson,1991; Fortner et al., 1991). Communicationsresearchers have found that the news mediaboth shape and reflect public opinion, and con-tent analysis of newspapers has been successfullyused to indirectly measure public attitudes, val-ues, and opinions over a range of policy issues(e.g., Fan & Cook, 2003; Fan & Holway, 1994;Noelle-Neumann, 1991; McCombs, 2004), in-cluding environmental issues (e.g., Bengston etal., 2005; Kepplinger & Roth, 1979; Liebler &Bendix 1996; Williams, 2000). In fact, some re-cent work indicates that nuances within news ar-ticles, particularly overall tone (e.g. positive ornegative) can strongly influence public opinionand response to policy alternatives (Cockerill,2003).

This suggests that analysis of newspapercontent may provide valuable insights into pub-lic perceptions and understanding of waterquality. We used content analysis of Upper Mis-sissippi River Basin newspapers to assess publicperceptions of water quality and its relationshipto land use, and indirectly assess attitudes andvalues related to water quality.

DATA AND METHODS

This analysis involved six main steps: (i) iden-tifying news sources in the target region, (ii)creating search terms to identify relevant arti-cles, (iii) downloading relevant articles from on-line sources, (iv) developing a coding system tocategorize article content and using it to codearticles, (v) assessing consistency among multi-ple coders, and (vi) analyzing the frequency ofdominant themes expressed in the articles.

Ten regional newspapers provided the tex-tual data for the analysis. These included theMinneapolis Star Tribune, the Madison CapitalTimes, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the DubuqueTelegraph Herald, the Chicago Sun-Times, theChicago Tribune, the Springfield State Journal Reg-ister, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Bloom-ington Pantagraph, which were all accessed us-ing the LexisNexis©R online database. The DesMoines Register also was included but was ac-cessed through a U.S. News guided search via e-newspapers at the Iowa State University library.

The search command to identify relevantarticles was constructed to limit the articlesdownloaded to those containing paragraphsthat addressed both water quality and eitheragricultural, conservation, or urban land uses:“water quality w/p agricultur! or conserv! or ur-ban!” The truncations “agrcultur!,” “conserv!,”and “urban!” specified that different forms ofthese terms also were retrieved, for example,agriculture, agricultural. The five-year timeperiod between 1 January 1999 and 31 Decem-ber 2003 was searched for relevant articles.After downloading, the articles were importedinto the N-Vivo software package (Qualitative

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

PUBLIC DISCOURSE ABOUT LAND USE AND WATER QUALITY 189

Solutions and Research, 2002) for coding andanalysis.

A three-person team repeatedly examinedrandom samples of text to develop the cate-gories for coding. Three over-arching themeswere identified: Improving water quality, de-teriorating water quality, and social. Withineach theme, sub-themes were identified and ar-ranged hierarchically. While developing the cat-egory structure, we continually examined theaccuracy and comprehensiveness of the themesand added or deleted sub-themes. When thestructure was complete, a total of 59 categorieswere used in assessment of all text: three mainthemes and 56 sub-themes (Figures 1 and 2).Each paragraph of text used in our database ofnews stories was then coded, that is, assigned tothe categories that described the content.

Two individuals coded text from differ-ent newspapers. Individual paragraphs were theunit of analysis. Paragraphs that contained mul-tiple expressions of the same concept werecoded only once, whereas paragraphs that con-

Production with Conservation Practices

Idle

Agricultural Land and Water Quality

Urban Land and Water Quality

Development: Planning and Process

Developed

Parks or Open Space within City Limits

Improving/Deteriorating Water Quality

Rural Public Land and Water Quality

Restoration

Recreation

General Land Use and Water Quality

Production without Conservation Practices

Livestock

Crops

Livestock

Crops

Wildlife

Vegetative

Fig. 1. Categories used for coding paragraphs about improving or deteriorating water quality.

tained two or more different concepts werecoded once for each concept. Table 1 providesexamples of paragraphs that were coded for sev-eral biophysical themes.

We tabulated the total number of expres-sions of biophysical themes, the overall trendin expressions of land uses as related to waterquality, specific characterization of land-use, ge-ographic variability among newspapers, and thecharacterization of social expressions as values,discussion, or action.

Because perennial landcover has a signifi-cant effect on water quality, keyword searcheswere conducted using N-Vivo to identify alloccurrences of the words “prairie,” “wetland,”and “forest,” and to examine co-occurrencesof those keywords with biophysical and socialthemes. A keyword search was also conductedto identify and examine discussion of the wordstewardship in relation to water quality.

To assess the consistency of coding, bothcoders examined the same random sample of ar-ticles from each of the newspapers. Intercoder

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

190 A. N. SCHMID ET AL.

Ecological G & S

Intangible

Tangible

Values Discussion

Planning

Education

Social Themes

Stewardship

Aesthetics

Action

On the Ground

Investment

Property Value

Commodity

Sense of Place

Policy

Call to Action

Research

Private

Government

Grants

Dialogue

Failure to Act

Fig. 2. Categories used for coding paragraphs about the social aspects of land use and water quality.

reliability was determined using the coefficientof reliability (Poindexter & McCombs, 2000).Reliability was determined at two levels of anal-ysis, relative to general themes (e.g., improvingor deteriorating water quality) and sub-themes(e.g., land use type, specific social themes; seeFigures 1 and 2). Intercoder reliability was 89%at the general level of analysis and 72% at themost specific level of analysis. Overall intercoderreliability (weighted by number of coded ex-pressions in each category) was 83%. Accord-ing to Poindexter and McCombs (2000), 80%reliability is an acceptable level.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The search command identified 1,057 rele-vant articles that addressed both land use and

water quality for the five-year period. Thosearticles contained 3,917 expressions of im-proving or deteriorating water quality. Expres-sions of improving water quality (2,257 expres-sions or 58%) outnumbered expressions ofdeteriorating water quality (1,660; 42%). Dis-cussion of improving water quality includedboth actual water quality improvement andrecognition of a need to protect or improvewater quality, as illustrated in the followingparagraphs:

Actual water quality improvement:

“Those investments have paid off with gradually in-creasing water clarity and declining amounts of bothchlorophyll, an indicator of algae growth, and phos-phorus, a nutrient that feeds algae,” said Heidi Bunk,a lakes biologist with the state Department of NaturalResources. (Behm, 2003, 1Z)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

PUBLIC DISCOURSE ABOUT LAND USE AND WATER QUALITY 191

Table 1Examples of paragraphs coded for biophysical (linking land use and water quality) and social (stewardship)themes

Category Quote Reference

Improving Carlson’s efforts to raise awareness (about water qualityimprovement) “was a plus.”

Meersman (1999)

Deteriorating There has been little resolve to reverse the degradation of lakesand streams here or elsewhere in the Midwest.

Ragsdale (2001)

General The debate comes as the Illinois Environmental Protection Agencyponders how to control the discharge of nutrients such asphosphorous and nitrates into rivers, which can smother awaterway by spurring algae growth. The state has no standardfor how much of those nutrients are good or bad for a river, butofficials hope to have standards in place by 2007.

Long (2003)

Agricultural Ozaukee County gained national recognition—the only localgovernment award given this year—for successfully protectingthe Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve on the lake shoreline,educating the public about bluff erosion and installing grassstrips on the banks of rivers and streams draining to the lake,according to NOAA officials. The grass buffer strips trap soil andother contaminants flowing off adjacent agricultural fields andimprove water quality.

Milwaukee JournalSentinel (2003)

Urban The plan tries to balance competing uses by proposing toencourage sensible development while enhancing recreationalopportunities in and along the river, restoring creek habitats, andprotecting drinking water supplies.

Grady (2002)

Stewardship “Things that get on the grass usually wind up in the water becauseall the rain eventually goes there,” said Rebecca Dyer, 13, of St.Charles. ”I’m going to be more careful about what chemicals Iput on my lawn and garden so that I don’t add to the pollution inthe rivers.”

Linke (2003)

Recognition of a need to protect orimprove water quality:

“It’s important to keep in mind that protecting and im-proving the quality of Dane County’s waters is not a taskthat will ever be over, but rather is an ongoing process.The Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission isproud to be an active and effective part of that process.”(Bisgard, 2003, 9A)

The relatively large share of discussionabout water quality improvement suggests that thepublic discourse about water quality is cast in apredominantly positive light. This is unusual forissues that are difficult to solve and that havebeen in the media for a long period of time.News media discussion of environmental issues,such as old-growth forests and the spotted owl,has often tended to be negative in tone, em-phasizing polarized conflict and the economicand ecological costs associated with the issue(e.g., Furlow, 1994; Liebler & Bendix, 1996).

However, the overall positive tone of the discus-sion in this case may influence reader opinionsuch that there is less concern about solving wa-ter quality problems (e.g., Cockerill, 2003). Thepositive nature of the water quality discourse isalso contrary to real-world indicators showingdeteriorating water quality in many instances,as well as the consensus among environmentalscientists that non-point-source pollution is stilla significant threat to surface water quality (e.g.,Daniels & Daniels, 2003).

In the discourse about improving waterquality, discussion of general or unspecifiedland use (1,150; 51%) was most common, fol-lowed by discussion of agricultural (563; 25%),urban (403; 18%), and rural (140; 6%) land use(Figure 3). General land use expressions alsowere the most common in discussion of dete-riorating water quality (650; 39%), followed byagricultural (456; 27%), urban (375; 22%), andrural (179; 11%) land use. Non-point-sources

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

192 A. N. SCHMID ET AL.

Fig. 3. Expressions of land use related to improving or deteriorating water quality, based on the percentage oftotal improving and deteriorating expressions about water quality.

of pollution can be difficult to identify andeven more difficult to pinpoint cause and ef-fect relationships (Hanna, 1999). Therefore, itis not surprising that expressions about general(unspecified) land use related to water qual-ity were the most common. Other studies havefound that news media discussion of environ-mental issues tends to be dominated by ex-pression of general rather than specific con-cerns (e.g., Bengston et al., 2005, Bengston &Fan, 2001). Because the Midwestern landscapeis dominated by agriculture, it follows that ex-pressions about agricultural land use related to

water quality were the second most common(Vache et al., 2002).

“Action” (primarily on-the-ground activi-ties to remedy water quality problems) was themost commonly expressed social theme (1,797;50%), followed by “discussion” (descriptions ofmeetings or presentations about water quality)(1,243; 34%) and “values” (tangible and intan-gible goods and services associated with waterquality as well as responsibility to protect andimprove it) (572; 16%) (Figure 4). The domi-nance of action expressions suggests the prag-matic nature of the public discourse about water

Fig. 4. Expressions of land use and water quality related to social themes, based on the percentage of total socialexpressions.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

PUBLIC DISCOURSE ABOUT LAND USE AND WATER QUALITY 193

Fig. 5. (a–d). Geographic variation in expressions about land use related to improving or deteriorating waterquality, based on total improving and deteriorating expressions for each newspaper.

quality and a commitment to and readiness foraction. This commitment and readiness is alsosupported by the expressions of environmentalvalues we found in the newspaper discussion ofwater quality. Although the word “stewardship”itself was used infrequently overall (see later dis-cussion of keyword searches), within the valueexpressions those coded as being about stew-ardship were the most common (257; 45%).The focus of value expressions on stewardship—the ethical responsibility to care for the land—suggests that people are willing to take actionand that the motivation for doing so is relatedto a sense of responsibility to protect water qual-ity (Mitchell & Brown, 1998).

Variability in the themes expressed be-tween the ten source newspapers was evident forthe overall nature (improving/deteriorating) ofdiscussion and in the degree of specificity in re-lation to land use (Figures 5a–5d). This maybe due to differences in the salience of issueson a geographic basis. For example, the major-

ity of biophysical themes (linking water qual-ity to land use) expressed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were general (59%), whereas in the DesMoines Register urban land use expressions werethe most common (34%), and for the SpringfieldState Journal Register agricultural land use (42%)dominated the discussion. The differences inbiophysical expressions between metropolitanareas are similar to findings by Bengston et al.(2005) in their study of concerns about urbansprawl.

Keyword searches for typical perennialplant communities generated 284 mentions ofprairie, 747 for wetlands, and 345 for forests.However, coded text, paragraphs that identified aspecific link between perennial land-cover andwater quality, included only 126, 347, and 70of the mentions for prairie, wetland, and for-est, respectively (Figure 6a). The majority of thecoded biophysical expressions related to prairie(72%), wetland (64%), and forest (61%) landcover were about improving water quality. The

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

194 A. N. SCHMID ET AL.

Fig. 6. (a–b) Proportion of expressions about perennial plant cover in relation to biophysical and social themes,based on total keyword mentions.

majority of social expressions related to prairie,wetland, and forest were about action, followedby discussion and values (Figure 6b). Overall,even though the public discourse reflects a pos-itive relationship between perennial land coverand improving water quality, the link is clearlynot as strong for the news media and the publicas it is for scientists.

Surprisingly, a “stewardship” keywordsearch generated only 12 mentions, whereas“ecological goods and services” had 43, “plan-

ning” had 34, and “policy” had 30. Eventhough much of the social discussion couldbe interpreted as being about stewardship, itwas rarely specifically identified as such. Thisdisconnect may reflect lack of understandingamong members of the public or the mediaabout stewardship, or lack of desire to labelactivities in this way.

The positive nature and action orientationin the public discussion of water quality revealedin this analysis indicates that opportunities for

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

PUBLIC DISCOURSE ABOUT LAND USE AND WATER QUALITY 195

additional dialogue should be created and pur-sued vigorously, and that providing additionalinformation to the public is likely to encouragemore activities (such as introduction of peren-nial land cover) that are already viewed posi-tively, but are not prominent in the public dis-course about water quality.

SUMMARY ANDCONCLUSIONS

News articles analyzed in this study emphasizedwater quality improvement and tended to begeneral with respect to land use. However, thetone (improving/deteriorating) of the discus-sion and the degree of specificity in relationto land use varied depending on the region.Overall, our analysis indicated readiness andwillingness to take action to protect water qual-ity, although the link between specific forms ofland use, land management, and resulting wa-ter quality was generally weak. In particular, thelink between perennial plant cover (prairie, for-est, wetland) and water quality is not explicit inthe public discourse we examined related to thistopic.

Public opinion surveys indicate that re-spondents generally think more should be doneto protect or improve water quality (the ac-tion orientation) and that they were dissatis-fied with the amount of information they hadabout water resources and desired more (e.g.,for Iowa, Hanson et al., 1997; Frost, 2004). Thus,educators and land managers working to im-prove water quality could enhance their effortsby engaging in more dialogue with the pub-lic (through media outlets, educational cam-paigns, and direct interaction) to stress the re-lationships between specific land uses and wa-ter quality, and work to increase awareness ofa variety of practices, especially incorporationof perennial plant cover, that will be useful toimprove water quality in the Upper Midwest.

REFERENCES

Anderson, A. (1991). Source strategies and the communica-tion of environmental affairs. Media, Culture, and Society,13, 459–476.

Atwater, T., Salwen, M. B., & Anderson, R. B. (1985). Me-dia agenda-setting with environmental issues. JournalismQuarterly, 62, 395–397.

Behm, D. (2003). Seeking a clear solution at Big Creek Lake.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3 August, North: p. 1Z.

Bengston, D. N., & Fan, D. P. (2001). Trends in attitudestoward the recreation fee demonstration program on thenational forests: A computer content analysis approach.Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 19(4), 1–21.

Bengston, D. N., Potts, R. S., Fan, D. P., & Goetz, E. G. (2005).An analysis of the public discourse about urban sprawlin the United States: Monitoring concern about a majorthreat to forests. Forest Policy and Economics, 7, 745–756.

Bisgard, D. (2003). Zebra mussel control among watershedpanel’s many goals. Madison Capital Times, 30 June, edito-rial: p. 9A.

Cockerill, K. (2003). Testing language: Media language in-fluence on public attitudes about river management. Ap-plied Environmental Education and Communication, 2, 23–37.

Daniels, T., & Daniels, K. (2003). The environmental planninghandbook for sustainable communities and regions. Washing-ton, DC: Planners Press.

Fan, D. P., & Cook, R. D. (2003). A differential equationmodel for predicting public opinions and behaviors frompersuasive information: Application to the Index of Con-sumer Sentiment. Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 27, 29–51.

Fan, D. P., & Holway, W. B. (1994). Media coverage of co-caine and its impact on usage patterns. International Jour-nal of Public Opinion Research, 6(2), 139–162.

Ferber, D. (2004). Dead zone fix not a dead issue. Science,305, 1557.

Fortner, R. W., Mayer, V. J., Brothers, C. C., & Lichtkoppler,F. R. (1991). Knowledge about the Great Lakes environ-ment: A comparison of publics. Journal of Great Lakes Re-search, 17, 394–402.

Frost, A. N. (2004). Land use and water quality: The por-trayal of relationships in the media and the perception ofwater quality problems by stakeholders. M.S. Thesis, IowaState University Library, Ames, IA.

Furlow, F. B. (1994). Newspaper coverage of biological subis-sues in the spotted owl debate, 1989–1993. Journal of En-vironmental Education, 26(1), 9–15.

Grady, W. (2002). Interns take stock of Fox’s streams. ChicagoTribune, August 7, p. 1W.

Hanna, K. S. (1999). Integrated resource management inthe Fraser River estuary: Stakeholders’ perceptions of thestate of the river and program influence. Journal of Soiland Water Conservation, 54(2), 490–499.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14

196 A. N. SCHMID ET AL.

Hanson, M., Padgitt, S., Lasley, P., & Miller, R. (1997). Publicattitudes on water quality in Iowa: Ten years later. IowaState University Sociology Extension Unit Report 97-1,Ames, IA.

Kepplinger, H. M., & Roth, H. (1979). Creating a crisis:German mass media and oil supply in 1973–74. PublicOpinion Quarterly, 43(Fall), 285–296.

Liebler, C. M., & Bendix, J. (1996). Old growth forests onnetwork news: News sources and the framing of an envi-ronamental controversy. Journalism and Mass Communica-tion Quarterly, 73(1), 53–65.

Linke, D. (2003). Forest trip raises kids’ ecological aware-ness. Chicago Tribune, 14 May, p. 7A.

Long, J. (2003). Sierra Club study of Fox River disputed.Chicago Tribune, 16 February, p. Metro 1.

Lowrance, R., Dabney, S., & Schultz, R. (2002). Improvingsoil and water quality with conservation buffers. Journal ofSoil and Water Conservation, 57(2), 36–43.

McCombs, M. (2004). Setting the agenda: The news media andpublic opinion. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Meersman, T. (1999). Pollution poisons a river once proud.Minneapolis Star Tribune, 12 December, p. 1A.

Mitchell, B. A., & Brown, J. L. (1998). Stewardship: A work-ing definition. Environments: A Journal of InterdisciplinaryStudies, 26(1), 8–17.

Mitsch, W. J., et al. (2001). Reducing nitrogen loading to theGulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin: Strategies

to counter a persistent ecological problem. BioScience, 51,373–387.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (2003). Your neighbors. Mil-waukee Journal Sentinel, 20 April, p. 3Z.

Noelle-Neumann, E. (1991). The theory of public opinion:The concept of the spiral of silence. In J. Anderson (Ed.),Communication yearbook, 14 (pp. 256–287). Newbury Park,CA: Sage.

Qualitative Solutions and Research. (2002). N-Vivo 2.0. QSRInternational Pty Ltd., Australia.

Poindexter, P., & McCombs, M. (2000). Research in masscommunication: A practical guide. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.Martins.

Ragsdale, S. (2001). Take a clear look at Iowa’s murky riversand lakes. Des Moines Register,13 July, p. 11A.

Rubin, D. M., & Sachs, D. P. (Eds.). (1973). Mass media andthe environment. New York: Praeger.

Service, R. F. (2004). New dead zone off Oregon Coast hintsat sea change in currents. Science, 205, 1099.

Vache, K. B., Eilers, J. M., & Santelmann, M. V. (2002). Waterquality modeling of alternative agricultural scenarios inthe U.S. cornbelt. Journal of the American Water ResourcesAssociation, 38, 773–787.

Williams, J. (2000). The phenomenology of global warming:The role of proposed solutions as competitive factors inthe public arenas of discourse. Human Ecology Review, 7(2),63–72.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f W

inds

or]

at 2

1:08

19

Nov

embe

r 20

14