The information agenda on industrial city ecology: peculiarities, content, and thematic guidelines

This article studies the information agenda on ecology in the media of Magnitogorsk, one of the largest industrial cities of the Chelyabinsk region, in 2021 and 2022. Theoretical works studying the information agenda of the media show that there are many definitions of the information agenda but all of them are united by such criteria as a set of topics or “information occasions” discussed in the publication, the determination of their importance for the audience, and their relevance at a given time. The article content-analyzes the information agenda of the leading online media of Magnitogorsk and determines the features, content, and thematic guidelines of environmental publications. The data were from 410 publications on ecothematics among highly rated network editions of Magnitogorsk: MagCity74.ru, Mgorsk.ru, and “Magnitogorsky Rabochiy” in 2021 and 2022. The dominant themes in the information agenda of the city are environmental pollution and pollution control, waste management, and low-waste or zero-waste technology. In addition to the problems partly related to atmospheric pollution due to the large industrial enterprises in the region, a positive tendency to change the prioritization of topics - from negative to more positive - was found. For example, there were publications devoted to “the ecological improvement of the city”, talking about eco-actions, ecoloigcal initiatives of residents, and the development of eco-programs, etc.