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dc.contributor.authorStalenberg, Eleanor
dc.contributor.authorLunney, Daniel
dc.contributor.authorMoon, Chris
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-03T00:10:37Z
dc.date.available2024-12-03T00:10:37Z
dc.date.issued2024en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2123/33364
dc.description.abstractContext. The unprecedented scale and severity of the 2019–2020 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires in Australia were an environmental disaster, and koalas became the public face of the fires’ toll on wildlife. Aims. We investigated the media stories on koalas during the fires to identify what was reported, and how the numbers of koalas killed by the fires were sourced and reported. Methods. We searched for media articles published in major Australian print and online news outlets, local sources, press releases and international outlets for the terms ‘koala’, ‘fire’, ‘bushfire’, ‘emergency’, ‘disaster’ and ‘burn’, published between 15 October 2019 and 31 October 2020, and recorded any numbers of koalas given in those reports. This places our methods in a qualitative realm of investigation. Key results. We reviewed 371 media articles on the bushfires and koalas in New South Wales (NSW). Almost half included an estimate of the numbers of koalas killed in NSW. Almost a third stated that koalas are going extinct in NSW, however almost two thirds did not mention that koalas were already in decline from threats other than fire. Conclusions. We concluded that it was dangerous to put numbers on koalas. Misinformation, half-truths, and neglecting the important role of science and scientists, can erode public trust in the media and in science. Implications. The obsession with numbers has left a legacy that can drown out the more considered narrative of science and lead to distortions of policy and management, as well as distract from other critical attributes of koala conservation.en_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherCSIRO Publishingen_AU
dc.relation.ispartofPacific Conservation Biologyen_AU
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0en_AU
dc.subjectconservationen_AU
dc.subjectdisasteren_AU
dc.subjectevidenceen_AU
dc.subjectextinctionen_AU
dc.subjectjournalismen_AU
dc.subjectmedia studiesen_AU
dc.subjectqualitative researchen_AU
dc.subjectscience communicationen_AU
dc.subjectscience in the mediaen_AU
dc.subjectthreatened speciesen_AU
dc.subjectwildfireen_AU
dc.subjectwildlife rehabilitationen_AU
dc.title‘It’s dangerous to put a number on them’. Media coverage of koalas during the 2019–2020 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires in Australiaen_AU
dc.typeArticleen_AU
dc.identifier.doi10.1071/PC24019
dc.type.pubtypePublisher's versionen_AU
dc.relation.otherNSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
usyd.facultySeS faculties schools::Faculty of Science::School of Life and Environmental Sciencesen_AU
usyd.citation.volume30en_AU
workflow.metadata.onlyNoen_AU


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