Coverage of Air Pollution in Online News: Implications for Environmental Health Awareness

The global nature of air pollution and the range of distances pollutant particles can travel warrant the general population to be knowledgeable about air related events, not only regionally, but also nationally and internationally. Current awareness about air pollution among the public remains low, but this can be mitigated by detailed coverage of these events in the media. The study addresses this by analyzing the content included in air pollution-related news articles. More specifically, this study aims to determine the comprehensiveness of news sources netizens consult to potentially inform their environmental health-related decisions. Of 14 content areas that were looked for in the 100-article sample, two (research findings mentioned and type of particles) were found in a majority (>50%) of the articles. Official complaints and Air Quality Index (AQI) were included in less than 10% of the articles sampled with each only being featured in six articles. Independent Chi-square tests (α = .05) determined that URL extension had a statistical effect on the inclusion of the following three areas: types of particles (p = .0280), type of community (p = .0280), and AQI (p = .0316). In all cases, the .com articles featured the given content in more articles than those from other website extensions. This research should be used to drive the conversation about air pollution awareness and knowledge among the general population and how their acquired knowledge influences their health behaviors.