This week, continuing to focus on the coal seem gas issue in the Illawarra, I decided to take a closer look at local newspaper The Illawarra Mercury, which is owned by Fairfax Media Corporation. Mainly I’ve mostly been concerned with the frequency at of the Mercury’s ability to report on the issue in general, also looking at how the issue itself is portrayed by the newspaper.
My findings revealed that the Mercury generally reports on the topic when there is a new development or issue that arises involving CSG on both a local and national level. However, whilst it is a prevalent issue in the Illawarra region, this does not necessarily mean it will find itself etched on the front page of a newspaper. While the Coal Seem Gas issue in the Illawarra could be considered to be quite a high-profile story, it is not unusual for stories such as these to somewhat fade into the latter pages of print media. This way be due to the fact that print media in many ways relies on new and exciting stories that have the ability to draw readers in.
The Illawarra Mercury has seemingly approached the CSG issue with an informative style of sanitised reporting, allowing readers to remain up to date on the issue both at local and national levels. However, members of the local community truly looking to stay in the fold, are much better off subscribing to the STOP CSG Illawarra website, as it is centralised around the issue entirely.
The Internet, An Abyss 