Importance of images in environmental communication case study of coverage in Coimbatore newspapers

Climate Change is the keyword in articles related to nature. Now researchers have started using Climate Crisis and Climate Disaster too as tipping point forewarnings. This Climate Anxiety is reaching individuals at a faster pace through the media and rather than on word of mouth. Newspapers, the primary medium of communication have an important role in taking such messages to the masses. Improvement in the digital technologies like fast transmission and sharp colour prints have helped the newspapers to deploy more images to explain the complex environmental concepts in an easy way. Further they are the most trusted media source of news on any subject on earth. Images play an important role in the mediation of information. They convey both literal and symbolic meanings. Exposure to visual imagery promotes cognitive elaboration and ethical reasoning. Images are perceived and processed faster than text news. Framing of the environmental messages is another issue considered in this study. A content analysis of five main line newspapers published from Coimbatore, The Hindu, The Times of India, The New Indian Express (English dailies) and Dinamalar, The Hindu Tamil Dhisai (language dailies) were done for three months to assess the impact of images in reportage of environmental issues. Differences in environmental frames adopted by the newspapers were analysed. Three major themes, Conflict, Mitigation and Consequence were identified through Participant observation study and 22 end frames were identified in Content analysis. The findings were discussed with environmental and communication experts in the form of In-depth interviews in the final phase to obtain ratified analysis and useful suggestions.