Beyond the advocate label: environmental journalists' role conceptions and social media practices in an era of climate urgency

Abstract

Environmental journalists have increasingly incorporated social media into their professional practices, a trend that has prompted scholarly examination of how these digital platforms influence journalistic norms. While research has explored journalists' social media use broadly, limited attention has been paid to factors affecting environmental journalists' online decisions specifically. This study investigated how different professional role conception factor into environmental journalists' social media behaviors by applying Role Theory and Journalistic Role Conceptions frameworks. Focusing on the longstanding tension between objectivity and advocacy in environmental reporting, the research explored how interpretive and advocacy role orientations shaped online practices. Through in-depth interviews with 14 environmental journalists, this study revealed that role conceptions influenced intentions but rarely manifested in distinctly different social media behaviors, with factors including credibility concerns, source relationships, and safety considerations proving more influential than role orientation. The findings contribute to understanding the unique challenges environmental journalists face in digital spaces where reporting on environmental issues is often automatically perceived as advocacy.