Abstract
Scheduled for adoption in March 2001, the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Roadless Rule), was the most significant U.S. conservation policy since the 1905 creation of the United States Forest System (NRDC, 2004). The Roadless Rule protected 58.5 million acres of national forest from new road building and strictly limited resource extraction. As public policy, the Roadless Rule was a shining example of the democratic policy process. Years in the making, it drew heavily on environmental science and public participation. At its adoption, the Roadless Rule stood “as the single most commented on federal rulemaking in our nation’s history with over 600 public meetings and 1.6 million comments submitted” (Earthjustice, 2001) yet it was never implemented. The high level of (pre-social media) public input into the Roadless Rule’s formation, makes analyzing its unraveling and ongoing contestation essential to understanding the key role media play in advancing neoliberal economic interests over those of the public interest. Employing both a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative discourse analysis of the Roadless Rule news coverage, this research finds a news media that consistently privileges the voices of industrial interests over those of the public in a variety of ways, such as conflating the public’s interest with industry interests and misrepresenting the policy. Examination of this soon to be 25-year-old policy failure provides insights into a dynamic that began long ago and continues to undermine the public’s environmental interest today.
Presenters
J.R. "Jones" EstesAssociate Professor, University Studies, Portland State University, Oregon, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Environmental Policy, Public Participation, Public Interest, Media
