|
|
|
|
||
| Home | About BWEA | Contact us | Media | Search | ||
ReferenceWind energy in the mediaTrends in public opinionPublic perception is vital in forming opinion, and wind energy is no exception. Wind farms are local phenomena, and will result in discussion of the various issues, just as any other new development would. Yet very few people have real experience of wind power in action, and therefore have to rely on information from other sources, including what's reported in the media. BWEA collates press clippings featuring wind energy, and periodically analyse them to observe trends in both reporting and public opinion. Some interesting discoveries have been made. The majority of reporting about wind power is generally positive, a reversal of the situation five years ago, but the majority of coverage occurs in the local press, one third of which appears in the letters' pages, with members of the public writing in to give their views on the wind power industry. 1190 such letters were published between 1st of August 2001 and 31st July 2002, 727 or 61% of which were negative. Yet of these, an amazing 27% were written by just 12 people. During the 5 year period between 1996 and 2001, 1825 negative letters were written in total, of which 25% were written by just 16 people. Fewer of the same people are now writing even more! While people are perfectly entitled to hold negative opinions about wind power, these statistics perhaps illustrate how the public perception of wind energy can be slewed, with a very small but vocal minority creating the impression that wind energy is unpopular. Indeed, there does seem to be a mythology of negativity surrounding wind power in the UK, which has no basis in fact. Analyses of wind energy in the media have been presented at the last three wind industry annual conferences, BWEA24, held in October 2002, April's UK Offshore Wind 2002 and BWEA23, held in October 2001. Follow the links below to see the full spectrum of analysis carried out:
|