Media image of the environmentally vulnerable territory: eye-tracking analysis of the impact of the environmental media agenda on youth audiences

Abstract

Issues of the environmental media agenda are acute in the media space and particularly relevant for the image of environmentally vulnerable territories. The impact of the environmental agenda on youth audiences of these territories is poorly studied, which actualizes the research topic. The purpose of the work is to study the impact of the environmental agenda on the image of the environmentally vulnerable region and youth audiences using eye-tracking technologies aimed at measuring the audience’s unconscious reactions. It is the first time when the topic is studied theoretically and empirically from the standpoint of a cognitive approach and the use of eye-tracking technologies aimed at analyzing the audience’s cognitive and affective reactions to the environmental agenda. It is established that messages of negative content, such as air pollution, waste management, and pollution of water bodies, predominate (74%) among the selected issues of the environmental agenda. These data are consistent with the results of eye-tracking studies, which show that the patterns of the audience attention are concentrated on these issues and a negative attitude is formed towards the territory image. The results obtained will make it possible to adjust the media ecovoice to neutralize conflictogenicity.