The roles and limitations of newspapers in environmental reporting. Case study: Isahaya Bay land reclamation project issue

This paper looks at Japanese newspaper coverage of environmental issues, focusing on the case of the controversy over the Isahaya Bay land reclamation project. This project was first planned in the early 1950s and construction began in 1989. Local activists groups began raising questions about the project in the 1970s, focusing on the environmental degradation that would result, but they did not succeed in having their opinions discussed widely in the media until it was too late to prevent completion. Only after the dramatic images of the last slab of the seawall falling into place, was there intense media coverage of the project. The attention paid to the project by the media did much to inform the public about the effects of large-scale public works projects on the environment. Yet an analysis of the newspaper coverage shows that the media played mostly a “spectator” role in the controversy, merely reacting to events. A more active, “watch-dog” role would be necessary for the media to uncover threats to the environment in time for the public to be educated about such issues and have a chance to influence crucial official decisions