ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of the media during environmental negotiations. The media exists to gather news and to report that news to the waiting public. If the news media does a story on the proposed hazardous-waste incinerator, everything may change. The media always performs these two roles, the gathering of news information and sharing of news, regardless of the variety of environmental negotiation game that is being played. In addition to issue identification, the media also performs the role of issue definition during informal public negotiations. The media frequently acts as an active mediator during informal public negotiations. The media is a welcome participant in informal public negotiations; the media is usually an unwanted intruder in formal private negotiations. The media provides issue identification and issue definition during informal public negotiations, and it acts as a mediator. The media can become a full-blown destroyer during formal private negotiations if either side gives the media the opportunity to do so.
