When attention drives attention: Issue dynamics in environmental news reporting over five decades

<jats:p> This article examines the dynamic relationship between issues in environmental news reporting. The focus of the study is on issue interactions within a single news programme over a 50-year period, covering all news stories on environmental issues in the main public service news programme on Swedish television between 1961 and 2010. The analysis shows a positive correlation between levels of attention to different environmental issues; intense focus on one category of environmental issues does not crowd out other environmental concerns in the news. On the contrary, a surge in interest to one category of environmental problems generates attention to other environmental issues as well. </jats:p>