Communiquer sur le patrimoine naturel. Discours de presse locale dans les Ramières de la Drôme, Rhône-Alpes (1981-2008)

Abstract

In Drôme basin, public perceptions towards natural heritage changed from 1981 to 2008. 85 articles and 56 pictures published in a local weekly were analysed to show how the images of a particular place and of management and planning policies are modelled. Animals and plants were used, corresponding to a marketing strategy. The choice of emblems reveals the transformation of a protected area focused on endangered species into a place of a local development. What lay people consider as heritage may be different of what researchers may expect. The definitions of natural heritage depend on an environmental context, a political approach (the local community adapt a top down protection), economical (with tourism) and socio-cultural issues.

Keywords

• communication
• image analysis
• local newspapers
• natural heritage
• temporal approach
• textual data analysis