Business pages get green makeover

Media reporting of green business stories has soared in the past year, according to new research released this week, and editors believe the trend is yet to peak.

The study from the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism in Arizona assessed the number of green business stories published in the top-10 US newspapers and found that the number published in 2007 was already double that for last year.

Examination of the content also determined that 81 of 154 business stories on environmental sustainability appearing since 2000 had been published during 2007.

The study argued that a "significant shift is underway in coverage priorities " with the increase in green business stories being driven by demand from both readers and advertisers.

"Coverage of business aspects of the environment is relatively recent, but the dollars involved and the public’s interest in it speak loud and clear," said report co-author Andrew Leckey, director of the Reynolds Center.

A small survey of 17 US business editors found that the trend is set to accelerate, with all respondents claiming that interest in green business stories had not yet peaked. However, they also agreed that coverage of green issues needed to improve, claiming that business journalists require more training in coverage of sustainability issues.

The report also said that the popularity of green business stories was having a knock-on effect on the global PR and communications industry and had resulted in the emergence of new PR departments and agencies "focused on getting 'green' press releases to business journalists".