Media web-sites environmental communication: Operational practices and news coverage

Abstract

In contemporary world, it is estimated that there are 1,838,596,056 sites across 214,036,874 unique domain names and 7,290,968 web-facing computers. The huge power consumption of these online services has serious consequences regarding the environment. The web-sites, along with the web tools, need electrical power to operate. Thus, environmental problems such as global warming, air pollution, natural resource depletion, and acid rain are worsening. Consequently, this study researched five hundred news web-sites including well-known international news organizations in order to understand if they choose to cover environmental news, if they take action to protect the Earth’s habitat by operating through renewable sources, by using the black colour in their graphic design or energy saving mode, and by organizing actions in favour of the environment. The findings of this original research revealed that almost none of the prominent news web-sites of the world seem to care about changing their web-sites in order to become environmentally friendly.