Article

Environmental Images Asia Pacific Media Educator

28(1) 1–17
in Indian Newspapers © 2018 University of
Wollongong, Australia
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1326365X18768135
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ame
T. Nirmala1
I. Arul Aram2

Abstract
This study examines how the environment is represented in images in India’s
two main national newspapers, The Times of India and The Hindu, in the calendar
years 2014 and 2015. Photographs and infographics were taken for the analysis as
they are frequently observed images in the newspapers. Using content analysis,
manifest content of the images was analysed. Later, visual discourse analysis was
used to find the inherent meaning present in the images of the environment.
In this study, infographics have been subjected to a detailed analysis. The findings
show that the images of climate change, biodiversity and water scarcity themes
were most frequently found. Adverse impacts were well represented in
newspapers such as the graphical information of global CO2 emissions, dipping
levels of reservoirs and groundwater, and threats to the ecosystems. The Times
of India used more of graphics with textual information as part of infographics and
The Hindu used more of statistical data. Though The Times of India and The Hindu
employ infographic artists besides graphic designers, infographics were scarce
compared to photographs. Data journalism is the way of the future, and the
newspapers should strive more to help public understand scientific and ethical
aspects of an environmental problem better.

Keywords
Environment, images, photographs, infographics, newspapers, visual discourse
analysis.

1
Research Scholar, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
2
Associate Professor, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Corresponding author:
T. Nirmala, Research Scholar, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: nirmala_media@yahoo.in
2 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

Introduction
Print media can help people understand the complexity of the environmental
issues and they can persuade individuals and communities to adopt eco-friendly
practices. A unique feature of print media is text accompanied by images.
The images may be in the form of photographs, infographics or cartoons. Images
engage the viewer and help them to understand the information easily. Photo-
graphs are taken when the event could be clicked and frozen in time. Whenever a
photograph is lacking, an infographic fills the gap. Infographic is a short name for
information graphics. Infographics are visual representations of graphical infor-
mation, data or knowledge. In newspapers, infographics are commonly used to
show the weather, as well as maps and site plans for newsworthy events. They
present complex information quickly and clearly which makes data easily under-
standable at a glance (Jenkins, 2006). Usually statistical data or reports are
published in the form of a chart, a graph or as a graphical image accompanied by
minimum text. Infographics are mainly created by a graphic artist using computer
software such as CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator. In this article, we have
analysed the environmental images of two major national newspapers in India,
and examined how these images represented the environmental issues. Photo-
graphs and infographics were taken up for the analysis as they are frequently
observed images in the newspapers.
In India, print media is growing at an incredible rate. India is one of the few
countries where daily circulation is growing while in most other countries circulation
is declining. In the last 10 years, 23 million copies were added by an increase of 251
publishing centres.1 The print versions of the daily English language newspapers
The Times of India and The Hindu were chosen based on their circulation and
credibility. The Times of India and The Hindu are India’s most circulated English
dailies with average circulation of 2,716,291 and 1,216,118, respectively.2 They
serve the English-reading readers (mostly urban). The Times of India is one of the
oldest dailies published by the Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd since 1838. According
to the ABC,3 The Times of India is the most-read English newspaper in India.
Ranganathan (2015) opined that The Times of India publishes more entertainment
news and has very little distribution in small cities and rural areas. The Hindu was
established in the year 1878, in Chennai (Madras), and it started as a weekly and
later became a daily. The Hindu is known for its comprehensive coverage, credibility
and sober style of reporting. The Hindu’s reportage and editorials are read carefully
and taken seriously in the national capital of New Delhi.

Review of Literature
Many research studies on environmental issues have focussed mainly on text
rather than visuals in news coverage. Scholars suggest that greater attention is
Nirmala and Arul Aram 3

required on other communicative tools such as photographs and graphics.

The textual analysis ignores images leaving some interesting and valuable avenues
unexplored. Researchers strongly believe that visual information can make a
news story more appealing and creates a stronger impression among the readers
and viewers than words (Castrechini, Pola, & Guàrdia-Olmos, 2014; DiFrancesco
& Young, 2010; Schäfer & O’Neill 2017; Seppänen & Väliverronen, 2003; Smith
& Joffe, 2009). DiFrancesco and Young (2011) said that the presence of an image
has a greater impact on the content of the article. Their study found that the articles
accompanied by an image in Canadian newspapers tend to have more moral and
emotional themes than articles without images. They argued that images are not
driving the content of articles, nor it is likely that articles are driving the content of
images. Rather, it appeared that journalists and editors are attaching images
post facto to articles that tend to be morally or emotionally edgy, regardless of the
content of those images. Seppänen and Väliverronen (2003) said that photographs
are used to construct social relations between different actors and to evoke
emotions that do not translate easily into a linguistic form. They further added that
texts could be used to influence the way photographs are interpreted, but photo-
graphs could also be used to construct new meanings into texts. Smith and Joffe
(2009) pointed out that imagery could influence the salience of information in
people’s memory and their emotional engagement, as well as their engagement
in climate disruption risk. Their study found that newspapers in the UK have
presented climate disruption visually using a human face and argued that the
British press has used visual imagery in three ways: to bring the threat closer home,
to personify climate disruption and to graphically represent it.
According to Dur (2012), data visualization provides a new and different point
of view about incidents and correlations of the incidents. The human mind can
perceive visual information quickly compared to written or verbal information.
Data visualization, when frequently used in daily newspapers, communicates
complicated articles filled with ratios, numbers and miscellaneous data much
better. So photojournalists have to be responsible and careful in the discharge of
their duties in representing the visuals (PCI, 2010). Scholars have mentioned that
usage of images by print media is not satisfactory and the media should represent
images in a way so as to communicate the message effectively. The media should
represent communicative and stimulating images, but the focus is more on
problems rather than causes of the problems (Ermolaeva, 2014; Meisner & Takashi,
2013; O’Neill et al., 2013). Meisner and Takashi (2013) found that very small
percentages of environmental images were devoted in the cover page of
Time magazine. They observed that Time’s cover page took a shallow position on
environmental affairs, much of the imagery lacked affective force and offered a
few solutions. Time covers missed opportunities to present meaningful, memorable
and provocative images. They suggested that the media can frame environmental
risks from a human angle and can use verbal, graphical and visual metaphors to
stimulate an emotional feeling of audiences by relating it to their daily lives.
4 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

A cross national study of environmental images by Ermolaeva (2014) between

the US and Russian newspapers revealed that environmental information was
covered differently. Compared to the Russian press, the US newspapers took a
major step forward publishing more articles with environmental images, had a
larger size of articles and featured articles in the main pages and contained more
illustrations. The USA presented more environmental articles that seek to stimu-
late environment-friendly behaviour from the audience. The Russian press
contained more analytical information regarding environmental issues compared
to the US press. Environmental images presented in the US and Russian news-
papers were covered as serious and alarming. They found that environmental
images in both US and Russian newspapers were portrayed in a descriptive but
not problem-solving manner. According to O’Neill et al. (2013), images of climate
change communication can promote salience and self-efficacy. But, in their study,
images of climate change promoted only salience and undermine self-efficacy
and images of politicians and celebrities strongly undermined saliency as well as
self-efficacy. They observed that only a few images promoted these two. Their
results suggest that communication strategies should assess the purpose of their
messages and choose to employ images accordingly.
Miller and Barnett (2010) said,

Text and graphics are both useful yet imperfect methods for communication. Written
language allows an almost infinite number of word combinations that allow deep analysis
of concepts but relies heavily on the reader’s ability to process that information. Graphics
may be easier for the reader to understand but are less effective in communication of
abstract and complicated concepts presentation of scientific information, but combining
text and graphics allows communicators to take advantage of each medium’s strengths
and diminish each medium’s weaknesses. (p. 63)

In their study, Rebich-Hespanha et al. (2015) observed that certain environmental

themes are more likely to appear in particular types of images. They found that the
climate change images were dominated by photographs, but charts were often used
to depict evidence, especially related to energy, greenhouse gases and changes in
temperature. In their study, illustrations and maps were often used to represent
impacts, whereas information related to government, politics and negotiation used
more photographs. Data journalism is an ever-growing technique in news presenta-
tions. It uses computer-assisted reporting using data as a source. Graphical data could
be easily read and understood by the readers, though they could not read the entire
article. However, research on infographics is found to be limited. Newspapers can
use effective infographics for providing information on environmental issues.
In India, the English newspapers often use infographics to report scientific facts and
figures of pollution levels, water quality, carbon dioxide emissions and biodiversity.
This study examines how environmental images in the form of photographs and
infographics are represented in the print versions of daily English newspapers
The Times of India and The Hindu in India.
Nirmala and Arul Aram 5

Research Questions
RQ1: To what extent are environmental images present in the newspapers during
the calendar years 2014 and 2015?

RQ2: Which types of environmental themes are represented as photographs and

infographics in the newspapers?

RQ3: How are data on environmental issues represented as infographics in the

newspapers?

Methods
This study used content analysis and visual discourse analyses to examine the
environmental images. Cole (1988) defined content analysis as a ‘method of
analysing written, verbal or visual communication messages’. Using content
analysis, manifest content of the visuals was analysed. Manifest content is a type
of content which can be directly observed, and the latent content is the hidden
meaning of the manifest content (Showkat, 2017). The latent content of the visuals
was observed using visual discourse analysis which addresses the discourses
present in the visuals. It is a way of understanding the meaning of visuals and what
they were intended to represent to the readers. According to Parker (1992),
discourses offer outlines to discuss the significance of a particular way of commu-
nication about reality. In this study, it helps understand how the messages are con-
structed in the infographics and their role in disseminating the complex information
on the environment. According to DiFrancesco and Young (2010), discourse analy-
sis is used to study news articles from a multimodal perspective as sites of intense
interaction between imagery and language, where both are packaged together with
the intention of presenting persuasive messages to readers.
The environmental images were collected from the newspapers for the calendar
years 2014 and 2015 on select environmental themes. The themes chosen for the
study are: air pollution, water pollution, solid waste management, water scarcity,
biodiversity and climate change. The themes were identified based on experts’
opinion, previous studies on environmental issues and after assessing the results of
a pilot study of the content of the newspapers. The data were collected from the
archives of the Connemara Public Library, Chennai. The library maintains all
the periodicals both the print and the scanned copies. Digitization was introduced
in the year 2006, and, by this, rare and old documents are scanned and preserved.
Scanned copies of the print version of the newspapers were taken for the analysis.
A total of 685 news items were identified for the analysis, by taking into account
the entire population and all the issues of the newspapers during the period of the
study. Initially, the images were retrieved, then we both coded all the images
together based on the type of images presented in the news and the way they were
6 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

Table 1. Categorization of Photographs

Categories Subcategories
People Politicians
Experts
Public
Landscapes Urban landscape
Natural landscape
Other landscapes
Environmental problems Impact on people
Impact on animals
Impact on territory
Social actions Public actions/NGO actions
Government action
Source: Castrechini et al. (2014).

portrayed in the newspapers. The coding consisted of descriptive variables which

included publication information such as the date of the coverage, the title of the
item, the environmental themes, type of image and the categorization of photo-
graphs. Castrechini et al. (2014) have categorized photographs into people, land-
scapes, environmental problems and social actions for analysing environmental
issues in Spanish newspapers (see Table 1). This study followed this categorization
for analysing the photographs with certain modifications such as under the people
category other personalities and people were coded as public. Similarly, the other
landscapes under the landscape category were industrial, agricultural and fishing
landscapes. Then, the frequency of images, categorization and themes of each
newspaper were measured. Difransesco and Nathan (2010) say that the impact of
visual communication is difficult to assess using traditional content coding alone and
images have a latent content and are often explicitly guided by elements presented
in it. So, visual discourse analysis was used to find the inherent meaning present in
the images of the environment. For this, infographics of environment represented in
the newspapers have been taken for a detailed analysis of the visual elements.

Results

Content Analysis
A total of 685 news items form the overall sample, of which 340 are from
The Times of India and 345 from The Hindu. The content analysis revealed that
photographs (n = 581) were more prominently used by the Indian newspapers
than infographics (n = 104). Among the photographs, different landscapes, espe-
cially natural ones, were mostly used in the newspapers. Then, environmental
problems and their impact on various territories, people and animals were
Nirmala and Arul Aram 7

represented. The Hindu had a greater number of photographs (n = 313) than

The Times of India (n = 268). The photographs of people included politicians,
experts and citizens. Politicians are the most common type (n = 36) of people
featured in the newspapers, followed by the public. Under the climate change
theme, images of world leaders were prominent with the visualization of politics
of climate change. The yearly conferences of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the participation of political leaders in
climate change agreements are major events and, therefore, it is not surprising that
photographs of key political leaders are routinely included in the newspapers
articles on climate change (see Table 2). The photographs of Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and the then US President Barack Obama were the prom-
inent images as they were dominant players in the climate discourses. The Hindu
carried a higher number of photographs of politicians (n = 22) and experts (n = 15)
compared to The Times of India. A similar finding was observed in Spanish
newspapers by Castrechini et al. (2014), where political figures were the most
frequent photographs followed by other personalities and environmental experts.
Photographs of the public occur lightly more frequently in The Times of India than
in The Hindu.
Photographs and other visual images are important elements in reporting biodi-
versity (Seppänen & Väliverronen, 2003). In that sense, newspapers had frequently
featured photographs of natural landscapes which included photographs of various
ecosystems, animals and birds. Some of these images found in the newspapers
were those of Pulicat Lake, Pallikaranai Marsh and other water bodies. Flocks of
birds were frequently (n = 23) covered in the newspapers, especially migratory
birds during migration seasons. Images of unharmed animals which are at risk
were used to illustrate the impact on endangered species. The animals included in
those images are rhinoceros, tigers, lion, vulture, langurs and Nilgiri tahr. In most
cases, they were portrayed as alive and well, and the textual content is in contrast
saying that they are endangered. The Hindu had more photographs of the natural
landscape, whereas urban (n = 26) and other landscapes (n = 11) were found more
in The Times of India. The category ‘other landscapes’ included agriculture, indus-
try and fishing. In the ‘other landscapes’ category, agriculture landscapes were
observed more than industrial and fishing landscapes. The agricultural landscape
included photographs of dried up agricultural lands and drought in various regions
in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Visuals of polluted lakes and encroach-
ments generated the public outrage. The Hindu covered more news items (n = 49)

Table 2. Frequency and Percentage of Environmental Images in the Newspapers

Environmental The Times of India The Hindu Total

Images N (%) N (%) N (%)
Photograph 268 (78.8) 313 (90.7) 581 (84.8)
Infographics 72 (21.2) 32 (9.3) 104 (15.2)
Total 340 (100) 345 (100) 685 (100)
Source: Authors’ own analysis using SPSS.
8 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

on water pollution compared to The Times of India. Climate change and water
issues were found to be prominent in The Hindu. Senior journalists and their
specialized areas gained more space. The Hindu has employed senior journalists
who have expertise in writing environment articles could be the reason for higher
coverage. Senior journalist G. Anathakrishnan of The Hindu represented climate
change conference and as a result his articles were found prominently in the month
of December, especially in 2015. K. Lakshmi, an assistant editor with The Hindu
who reported water issues, gained more space in the newspaper. This is because
senior journalists bring unique knowledge and depth in coverage coming out of
their expertise and experience or because specialist journalists handled the more
important news items. As argued by Ostberg (2016), if there is a specific in charge
for a specific issue, a certain bias could be created.
As part of the content analysis, correspondence analysis was performed
using SPSS to show the relationship between the environmental themes and the

Figure 1. Correspondence Analysis: Type of Photographs and the Environmental Themes

Notes: The graph shows certain associations between themes and photographs (X2 = 301.295,
df = 15, p < 0.001). The blue dots represent the themes and green dot represents the
type photographs portrayed. If the point is close to the centroid, there is no association.
The water scarcity theme is near and to the left of the centroid, so it makes a relatively
small contribution to the chi-square statistic. Whereas climate change point is far from the
centroid, and they lie along dimension one. They make relatively large contributions to the
chi-square statistic.
Nirmala and Arul Aram 9

photographs portrayed (see Figure 1). Correspondence analysis is used to represent

the graphical representation of cross-tabulations. It shows the occurrences of the
photographs and environmental themes studied. There is some positive association
between the photographs and the themes. It shows that there is a positive associa-
tion between the landscapes and biodiversity themes in both the newspapers.
The images of nature and natural landscapes were represented in a positive sense,
highlighting the ecosystem and its importance in general. The environmental
problem category included photographs of impact on territories, impact on people
and impact on animals. Adverse impacts on various territories are associated
positively with the air pollution and solid waste management themes. This included
the images of smog, garbage dump yard, and sewage issues. From the graph it is
understood that the impacts on animals were not well represented. The climate
change theme is positively associated with photographs of people and negatively
associated with other themes. The photographs of social action are moderately
associated with the solid waste management theme. Table 3 shows, four categories
and subcategories of photographs in each newspaper. Out of 581 photographs, 310
(45.2%) are about landscapes, 160 (23.4%) are about environmental issues, 75
(10.9%) are about people and only 36 (5.3%) are about social actions.
Table 4 shows various environmental themes represented in the newspapers.
Among the themes, climate change, biodiversity and water scarcity carried
more photographs and infographics. The graphical information of the percentage
of global CO2 emissions and dipping levels of groundwater and reservoirs were
the most frequently observed infographics. The infographics of pollution levels
in India, and research reports on deaths related to air pollution at national
and global levels were also seen in news items. The levels of air pollution in
New Delhi, the capital of India, is rising to a worrying extent and could be

Table 3. Environmental Photographs in The Times of India and The Hindu

Photograph categories The Times of India The Hindu Total

N (%) Subcategories N (%) N (%) N (%)
People 75 (10.9) Politicians 14 (4.1) 22 (6.4) 36 (5.2)
Experts 1 (0.3) 5 (1.4) 6 (0.9)
Public 18 (5.3) 15 (4.3) 33 (4.8)
Landscapes 310 (45.2) Urban landscape 27 (7.6) 16 (4.6) 42 (6.1)
Natural landscape 118 (34.7) 133 (38.5) 251 (36.6)
Other landscapes 11 (3.2) 6 (1.6) 17 (2.5)
Environmental Impact on people 37 (10.7) 31 (9.0) 68 (9.9)
problem 160 (23.4)
Impact on animals 9 (2.6) 10 (2.9) 19 (2.8)
Impact on territory 20 (5.9) 52 (15.4) 73 (10.7)
Social actions Public actions/NGO 10 (3.2) 18 (5.2) 28 (4.1)
36 (5.3) actions
Government action 3 (1.2) 5 (1.4) 8 (1.2)
Total 268 (78.8) 313 (90.7) 581 (84.8)
Source: Authors’ own analysis using SPSS.
10 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

Table 4. Environmental Themes Represented in the Newspapers

Photographs Infographics
Theme N (%) N (%)
Air pollution 43 (7.4) 9 (8.7)
Water pollution 73 (12.6) 6 (5.8)
Solid waste management 70 (12.0) 9 (8.7)
Water scarcity 78 (13.4) 24 (23.1)
Biodiversity 203 (34.9) 27 (25.9)
Climate change 114 (19.7) 29 (27.8)
Total 581 (100) 104 (100)
Source: Authors’ own analysis using SPSS.
Notes: This table shows the number of photographs and infographics in each theme. Though
multiple themes were present in a news item, only the prominent theme was considered
for coding.

the reason for the increased attention of the air pollution issue. London and
Beijing were some of the major cities found in the news items with regard to air
pollution.

Visual Discourse Analysis

Visual discourse analysis was done to understand the text and visual interactions
in the infographics. It is a method of understanding the meaning of visuals and
the way the elements are represented. Infographics are used to represent images
in different ways. According to Ghode (2012), three categories of infographics
are commonly found in newspapers. In the first category, infographics consist of
photographs along with statistical data with minimum information designed to
summarize news items. In the next category of additional conceptual charts, maps,
typography and symbolic interpretations are presented. In the third category, a
wider approach of information design, that is, detailed conceptual thoughts are
represented alongside graphics and textual information to help readers understand
and visualize the news or information. These different categories of infographics
were analysed using discourse analysis.
The themes of biodiversity and climate change used the third category, that is,
graphics along with more textual information. Air pollution, water pollution and
water scarcity themes used statistical-based data with minimum textual information.
The Times of India used more (n = 36) textual information in the infographics than
statistics. A majority of news items in the biodiversity theme contained ethical
messages on specific social prescriptions of right and wrong, emphasizing the
intrinsic value of bio-diversity and aspects of sustainable development. The Times of
India has used images to report environment incorporating an ethical perspective.
Although many western studies (Dirikx & Gelders, 2009; Habib & Hinojosa, 2016;
Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000) have found moral stories to be the least prevalent
type of stories, according to Nambiar (2014) Indian media represent moral values
Nirmala and Arul Aram 11

in the newspaper images consistently to evoke reader sentiment on environmental

issues. Some of the following news items with infographics contained interesting
headlines which evoked readers’ attention.
‘Trees give way for speed on ECR’ (Karthikeyan, 2015) in The Times of India on
20 January 2015 discussed cutting trees in East Coast Road to widen the road. ECR
is a highway in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, located along the coast of the Bay of
Bengal, connecting the capital city Chennai. The news item stressed the importance
of trees saying that the forest absorbs 40 per cent of the carbon dioxide emissions
generated by humans every year, especially a mature tree can absorb more emis-
sions and release enough oxygen into the atmosphere. Also, it highlighted some of
the key species such as Banyan, Neem, Palm and Tamarind trees that were cut
down. Key species are important for the health of an ecosystem. If a key species is
lost, it impacts other species such as birds, animals and bees which depend on them.
Cultural and ecological values, as well as information on trees were highlighted.
As argued by Miller & Barnett (2010), by combining both text and graphics, this
type of ingographic allows communicators to take advantage of each medium’s
strengths and diminish each medium’s weaknesses.
Similarly, in Figure 2 ‘Murder most foul: 35 turtles washed ashore’ shows a
news item in The Times of India on 20 January 2015, which describes the reasons
for turtle deaths. It mentions that between January and March, thousands of turtles
congregate near the shore to nest on the beaches and many get caught into nets and
are killed. As mentioned by Ghode (2012), this infographic uses an information

Figure 2. A Dead Turtle on the Beach, Chennai

Source: The Times of India (20 January 2015); Karthikeyan.
12 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

Figure 3. Infographic of Endangered Bird Species

Source: The Times of India (9 February 2014); Sivakumar.

design combining graphics and textual information. It poses several questions to the
readers such as how do adult turtles die, why now and what is needed to solve the
issue and answering these questions with the use of little text. It conveys the message
at a glance and makes the data and the graphics match each other. In this way,
readers can easily get the required information rather reading a lengthy news story.
A news item in Figure 3, ‘Poaching and habitat loss clip their wings’ in
The Times of India, 26 February 2014, with a similar type of infographics reported
the bird species in India, which are on the critically endangered list compiled by the
Nirmala and Arul Aram 13

Figure 4. Infographic of Global Warming

Source: The Hindu, 9 September 2015; Karthick.

International Union for Conservation of Nature. This infographic combined graphics

and textual information and enhanced the visual with well-defined techniques.
It accompanied the photographs of six endangered bird species Great Indian Bustard,
Himalayan quail, Forest Owlet, Pink headed duck, Siberian crane and Baer’s
Pochard. It helps readers to know the key information related to these birds such as
their native location and migration location. The migratory birds from other parts of
the country visit India during the winter season. The other birds on the list are also
included. Though the news items contained texts, the infographics make it more
appealing and informative by communicating words mixed with pictures.
Figure 4 shows an infographic of global warming accompanied by a picture
of polar bear designed by an infographic designer. It describes the global effects of
climate change that if we fail to meet the UN goal to curb emissions, the glaciers
will be wiped out within 100 years. Also it highlights international politics of climate
change and key issues discussed in negotiations. Being visually compelling, it
makes the reader quickly grasp the most important pieces of information on global
warming and helps readers understand the scientific and political aspects better.
The Hindu had a higher number (n = 18) of infographics on water issues than
The Times of India (n = 12), especially during the months of June, July and August.
The impact of summer which resulted in acute demand of water supply in Chennai
city areas and so there were a great number of articles. The dipping groundwater
levels were also covered. These infographics consist of photographs along with
statistical data with minimum information designed to summarize the news items.
14 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

Figure 5. Dipping Groundwater Level

Source: The Hindu (26 July 2015); Lakshmi.

Figure 5 shows an article by K. Lakshmi in The Hindu reporting about the findings
of a research study on groundwater quality in Chennai city. It uses a horizontal bar
chart of the dipping water levels that led to the decreasing quality of the groundwater
in various regions of Chennai. Water levels in various areas in Chennai city are
shown. The graph also shows the decline in water level led to an increase in total
dissolved solids (TDS) which is a parameter to determine water quality—the
increase of TDS from 330–1000 ppm in January to 550–1500 ppm in July.
It describes, ‘Many residents have been depending on groundwater for the past few
months (April, May, June, July), which has led to depletion in the water table.’ It is
based on a study by the Rain Centre, a non-governmental organization, which
describes that the dip in the water table is attributed to poor quality of groundwater.
Water-related issues are often shown using statistical data using bar charts and
tables. The statistical data are taken from various sources. In a news item on water
scarcity, The Times of India, 29 June 2015, used an infographic which was taken
from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) (see Figure 6). It carried five
different infographics of rainfall data besides a photograph of an open well which
gives the readers a clear picture of the issue. These graphs included statistical and
timeline of rainfall data such as a cross-tabulation, a polygraph, a horizontal bar
chart, a map and a typography palette. Cross-tabulation shows the deficient rainfall
data over years from 1904 to 1987. The polygraph is a line graph used to compare
two or more than two variables. Here the polygraph compares the rainfall using red
and blue colours to illustrate the actual rainfall which is drastically lower than the
normal rainfall. A horizontal bar chart shows the lowest rainfall recorded in the last
century. A map of India shows a prediction of rainfall in different states. And typog-
Nirmala and Arul Aram 15

Figure 6. Infographic of Rainfall Data

Source: The Times of India (29 June 2015); IMD, Reuters.

raphy palette included information of drought linked to food security. These stand-
alone charts and graphs give visually appealing content to the readers. Although the
number of infographics is less compared to the photographs in the newspapers, the
environmental information is found to be clearly represented with suitable graphs
and illustrations.

Conclusion
Photographs had given prominence to environmental stories that evoked the
public outrage and sympathy. Both the newspapers have effectively used different
photographs. The analysis shows that editors used photographs more often than
infographics. It implies that journalists are capable of handling cameras or working
with photographers, but the usage of software to make charts and statistics is less
frequent. Although newspapers employ infographic artists besides graphic designers,
the number of infographics was found to be relatively low in the newspapers in
comparison with photographs. But they were effectively used to represent the
required statistical information. The findings show that the themes of climate
change, biodiversity and water scarcity have carried more photographs and
infographics. Adverse impacts on various territories are well represented in the
newspapers such as the graphical information of global CO2 emissions, dipping
levels of reservoirs and groundwater, and threats to the ecosystems. As argued by
16 Asia Pacific Media Educator 28(1)

Shintre (2013), this study observed that the newspaper focussed more on the
urban issues and waste management. Though articles on biodiversity had higher
prominence, threats to the species were not given importance as it required.
Air pollution and related health issues are of serious concern, but newspapers had
given low priority. Climate change stories covered international politics but
lacked local perspective. The Times of India used higher numbers of infographics
compared to The Hindu. Both the newspapers used statistical-based information
from various sources such as metrological department and research studies.
Evidently, scientific studies or reports are given more space in the newspapers.
Today, journalists need training in handling large volumes of data. Data journalism
is the way of the future, and the newspapers should strive more to help the public
understand the scientific and technical aspects of environmental problems better.
The results suggest that newspapers may bring in more stories on scientific and
ethical perspective, rather than just place emphasis on the political aspects of
environmental problems.

Note
1. Audit Bureau of Circulations. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.auditbureau.org

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Authors’ bio-sketch
T. Nirmala is pursuing Ph.D. in Media Science at CEG Campus, Anna University
under the supervision of Dr. I. Arul Aram. Her research is broadly focuses on
environmental communication. She has five years of teaching experience in
Media and Communication. E-mail: nirmala_media@yahoo.in

Dr. I. Arul Aram specializes in the areas of Environmental Science, Science

Communication, and Communicating Climate Change. He teaches Environmental
Science and Climate Change in Anna University. He is a Fellow of the International
Congress of Environmental Research. He is formerly a Chief Sub-Editor with The
Hindu newspaper.