Science Communication 32(4) 425–466 © 2010 SAGE Publications Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1075547010364927 http://scx.sagepub.com Newspaper Reporters’ Priorities and Beliefs About Environmental Journalism: An Application of Q-Methodology Christos Giannoulis, 1,2 Iosif Botetzagias, 1 and Constantina Skanavis 1 Abstract This article assesses the variety of discourses articulated by journalists reporting on environmental issues. In particular, it investigates how environmental journalists perceive their role and function as reporters of environmental issues as well as the problems they face while reporting. The authors interviewed 23 newspaper reporters covering environmental issues for the nine largest (in terms of daily circulation) daily Greek newspapers, by employing Q-methodology, a qualitative statistical approach specially adjusted for small samples. The subsequent analysis reveals three “factors,” or distinct discourses, labeled “scientifically objective, environmentally responsible journalist,” “environmental crusaders,” and “objective-pure journalists.” By analyzing factors’ discourses, the authors concluded that these groups are highly similar to the “disseminator,” “interpreter/investigator,” and “populist mobilize” categories identified in previous research for journalists with different field orientations. However, the last category (“adversarial”) did not appear in our sample. The authors encourage the replication of 1 University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece 2 University of Ioannina, Agrinio, Greece Corresponding Author: Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, Xenia Building, Mytilene 81100, Greece Email: cgiannoulis@env.aegean.gr at University of Aegean on April 24, 2013 scx.sagepub.com Downloaded from