Abstract
Generally, inaccurate reports on environmental issues occur due to various factors. The purpose of this study was to find out a way to enhance accuracy of environmental reporting. So the reporters' career and college major had been compared to the accuracy of their articles. The by-lined environmental articles in nine dailies published in 1991 were checked. Results of this study were as follows. (I) Inaccuracy rate in environmental articles was 54.2%. Inaccuracies appeared 1.7 times per an article, while the average frequency of inaccuracies in overall articles was 0.9 time. (2) Errors in the articles consist of 65.8% of subjective inaccuracies and 34.2% of subjective inaccuracies. They derive from the false usage of terminology(15.8% ),misquotation(14.5%), incorrect statistics(13%), exaggeration(13%), inaccurate title(7.9%), and false comparison(5%). (3) Inaccuracy rate by the type of articles was 66.7% in columns, 60% in feature stories, 54.5% in-depth stories, 40.9% in straight news, respectively. (4) Inaccuracy rate by the specific field was shown 71.4% in environmental impacts assessment, 52.5% in water pollution, 37.5% in waste management, and 35.7% in air pollution. (5) According to the result of chi-square test analysis, there were no statistically significant differences of inaccuracy rate and of subjective, and objective inaccuracies relevant to the period of reporters' career covering environmental reporting and the nature of articles, and college major.