The Role of Media in Developing Citizen Participation for Environmental Advocacy
ABSTRACT
Agbon, R.A.A. (2011). The Role of Media in Developing Citizen Participation for Environmental Advocacy: A Descriptive Study of ABS-CBN’s Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.
This study focuses on the capacity of media to influence and set public agenda. In the Philippine setting, media are becoming social institutions delving on social problems through advocacies. These are advocacies for children, women, and environment, to name a few. The present study inquires on how media develop citizen participation for environmental advocacy through agenda setting.
Using the agenda-setting theory, this study aims to identify and describe how ABS-CBN shapes the public’s attention on environmental advocacy through ‘Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig’ (KBPIP). It may be said that the interest of Filipino citizens in restoring the beauty of Pasig River is drawn from the valuable media exposure ABS-CBN devotes for the projects of KBPIP.
This study also explores the developments of agenda-setting theory from setting media agenda to shaping public concern, and moving for the development of public policy as applied in Philippine mass media. This study delves on how mass media make people socialize and participate as media determine the public agenda.
Interviews with KBPIP and citizens residing nearby Pasig River were done to gather the pertinent information for this study. The researcher also made use of the press materials for KBPIP as references for further analysis on key concepts.
The findings of this research points to the market-driven approach of media on environmental advocacy. It also looks at citizen participation as a vital factor in effective advocacy campaigns.
Keywords: media, agenda setting, environmental advocacy, citizen participation