Fracking in the Karoo A case study in science communication

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The US Energy Information Administration estimates that South Africa could hold about 390trillion cubic feet (tcf) (11 043 570 174 000 cubic meter) of shale gas in the Karoo basin. Only 5 tcf(141 584 233 000 cubic meter) thereof would be enough to meet the energy needs of 5 millionhouseholds for 15 years.The South African government lifted the moratorium on shale gas exploration in September2012 after the issuing of exploration licenses were suspended for 18 months. During this time amultidisciplinary team conducted research to gain more knowledge about the practice. After the bigannouncement, various media houses published the latest developments on their digital newsplatforms and allowed readers to comment on the issue of exploration and possible future shale gasmining activities (also known as fracturing or fracking) in the country.This thesis applied both qualitative and quantitative methods science communicationmethods to analyse five sets of comments from five different online news outlets to explore theperceived benefits and concerns of shale gas mining as posted by readers. The IndependentNewspaper's online (IOL) news site (www.iol.co.za) yielded 21 comments; the Mail & GuardianOnline (www.mg.co.za) had 60 comments; Naspers's News24 (www.news24.co.za) attracted 151comments; Sowetan Live (www.sowetanlive.co.za) had 21 comments and Times Live(www.timeslive.co.za) contained 20 comments.With the normative theory, uses and gratification theory and Habermas's public sphere astheoretical foundation, a thematic content analysis of the 273 comments revealed a correlationbetween the perceived benefits and concerns held by the online news readers. The main perceivedbenefits of shale gas mining are: 1) potential work opportunities; 2) shale gas could contribute tolowering CO2 emissions; 3) shale gas is a more affordable form of energy that South Africa needs;4) shale gas would help with South Africa's economic growth; and 5) shale gas is an alternative andcheaper source of energy. The main concerns are: 1) pollution of water, the environment and air; 2)bribery and corruption; 3) concerns about the intention of petrochemical companies; 4) only a smallgroup of people will benefit from shale gas; 5) overseas companies will benefit from SA's shalegas; and 6) some comments expressed concerns, but did not give a reason why they are concerned.The thesis suggests that the media may have in the science communication process created amoral panic about shale gas mining, and that public relations practitioners in the shale gas industryneed to address the issues and concerns raised through the comments.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University