Studies in Media and Communication Vol. 11, No. 6; September 2023 ISSN: 2325-8071 E-ISSN: 2325-808X Published by Redfame Publishing URL: http://smc.redfame.com 371 The Mediating Role of Reporting Tendencies of Environmental News in the Relationship Between Information Sources and Citizen’s Environmental Awareness via Southern Weekend He Ye 1 , Mastura Mahamed 1 , Sharil Nizam Sha'ri 1 1 Mastura Mahamed, School of Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia Correspondence: Mastura Mahamed, School of Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Email: mastura.mahamed@upm.edu.my Received: June 15, 2023 Accepted: August 15, 2023 Online Published: August 16, 2023 doi:10.11114/smc.v11i6.6247 URL: https://doi.org/10.11114/smc.v11i6.6247 Abstract This article takes China's Southern Weekend Green newspaper as an example, selects 235 articles in Southern Weekend Green from 2018 to 2020. Conduct relevant research on environmental news reported in newspapers and magazines. Most of the previous studies focus on the classification of content, and there is no relevant research on the information source and the audience's environmental awareness. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of reporting bias between information sources and the audience's environmental awareness. The research method adopts the quantitative research method, adopts the random sampling method to conduct a questionnaire survey on the respondents, and distributes a total of 392 questionnaires. Correlation analysis was carried out on the influence of different information sources on reporting tendency and dissemination effect, and SPSS was used for correlation test. Keywords: information source, reporting tendency, environmental awareness, dissemination effect, sustainability 1. Introduction 1.1 Background of Environmental News The concept of environmental awareness is explained as familiarity with an environmental subject with real understanding of its deeper cause and implications. The various ecological and environmental problems brought about by the rapid economic growth have made the society begin to pay more and more attention to the ecological environment. Environmental news originated in the United States. At the beginning of the 20th century, the rapid development of American industry led to the rapid development of the American economy, while the environment suffered extensive damage. As a result, the natural resource protection movement in the United States has gradually emerged, and environmental issues have become a serious topic that governments and people have begun to pay attention to in the early 20th century. In the early 1980 s, protecting the environment has become Chinese basic national policy. Since the reform and opening up, environmental news reports have shown a more active trend, and the quantity and quality of environmental news have been continuously increased and improved (Gitlin, T., 2003). "Southern Weekend Green" leads domestic environmental news with precise topic setting, and has become a benchmark in the newspaper industry (Gitlin, T., 1990). The environmental news production level of “South Green” is relatively in the leading position. The goal of "Southern Weekend Green" is "to promote harmony among Chinese people, society and nature". "Normalize" news reporting. Behind environmental reporting there needs to be some frame to present events and make sense (Jameson, F., 1976). Environmental news in our country has experienced a development from "light green" to "dark green". "Light green" refers to news that talks about the environment in terms of environmental issues, and "dark green" is an attempt to analyze the underlying causes of environmental problems (Zang Guoren, 1999). Environmental reporting should focus on the balance between different regions and topics, as well as the scientific and artistic nature of reporting (Zang Guoren, 1997). The mass media and the communication process play a role in balancing the conflict between the public and the environment (Zang Guoren, 1997). Gao Lipeng and Tang Xiuping (2002) summarized the char acteristics of environmental news reports, listed the reporters and media who participated in environmental news reports, and believed that environmental news in my country did not form spontaneous awareness (Zang Guoren, 1998). Gong Yanfang and Huang Zhiyuan (2017) discussed the "partner" relationship