Agricultural image, news selection policy and interest level in agricultural news agenda setting of television and newspaper in Thailand

Date

1990

Abstract

The study aimed primarily to examine the levels of interagency communication, coordination and participation among environmental workers in governMent agencies and NGOs in Thailand in promoting ecological concerns. The specific objectives of this study were to: 1) describe the nature and level of communication among environmental workers in government agencies and NGOs in terms of form of communication (individual, group and mass contact), type of communication, content of communication, frequency of communication and communication structure; 2) identify the nature and extent of interagency coordination among environmental workers in government agencies and NGOs in terms of joint projects and activities, resources sharing, and organizational structure; 3) ascertain the nature and degree of participation of environmental workers in government agencies and NGOs in promoting ecological concerns, and 4) determine the relationships among the levels of interagency communication, coordination and participation of environmental workers in promoting ecological concerns of government agencies and NGOs. A total of 52 environmental workers in government agencies and NGOs served as survey respondents. In addition, 25 key informants from government agencies and NGOs were included in the in-depth interviews. Data were gathered using interview schedule for survey respondents and an in-depth interview guide for the key informants. Data were analyzed and presented through frequency counts, percentages and means. Chi-square test at 0.05 was employed to test the hypotheses. The study revealed a generally high level of interagency communication as manifested through individual, group and mass contacts. The other variables that influenced interagency communication were type and frequency of communication, communication content and communication structure. The high level of interagency coordination was exhibited through joint projects and activities. Likewise, organizational structure and resources sharing served as inputs and facilitated interagency coordination. The results also revealed the low level of participation of environmental workers in three government agencies (Department of Pollution Control, Department of Environmental Quality Promotion and Office of Environmental Policy and Planning) in terms of information sharing, monitoring and evaluation, policy formulation and planning, campaign activities, project implementation and environmental education. Meanwhile, the respondents from the NGOs, Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University and Institute of Environmental Research attached to Chulalongkorn University, showed a high level of participation in terms of information sharing, campaign activities, policy formulation and planning, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and environmental education. Moreover, there was no relationship between interagency communication and coordination, interagency communication and participation, and interagency coordination and participation in promoting ecological concerns. Problems encountered in interagency communication, coordination and participation in promoting ecological concerns included overlapping of responsibilities and authority among government agencies; lack of regular or permanent personnel; financial and budget limitation; difference in work approaches between government officials and NGO workers; many rules and regulations; formal organizational structure; hierarchy and complexity of government agencies; lack of sincerity in information dissemination; manipulation of information; information distortion; different information sources and seeking; slow communication and coordination activities; low credibility, recognition and prestige of some NGOs; too many committees and sub¬committees. Critical factors that contributed to the NGOs' achievements were strong credible leadership, small size of organization and staff, continuity in promoting ecological concerns, financial stability, strong NGOs collaboration among other NGOs and good management. Major obstacles impeding the government agencies and NGO collaboration were the differences in work philosophy and approaches and attitude towards promoting ecological concerns which consequently resulted in lack of understanding of one another.

Document Type

Master Thesis

Language

English

LC Subject

News recording, Newspapers, Television in agriculture

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

LG 995 1990 D46 J86

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS