Divergent Views and Common Values: Comparing Sustainability Understandings Across News Media, Businesses, and Consumers

Sustainability has become a widely used term in public discourse, yet it is connected to a variety of meanings with diverging implications for possible societal, political, and economic solutions. This study identifies and compares how sustainability is constructed by news media, businesses, and consumers to reveal gaps that may hinder mutual understanding when striving for sustainable development. A quantitative content analysis of 282 Dutch news articles, 74 business websites, and 5473 consumer responses finds that news media fails to host a variety of different sustainability understandings. While businesses and consumers appear to mainly follow a sustain-centric view and acknowledge a long-term perspective, news articles are unspecific about their understanding of sustainability or focus on the aspect of energy. The ethical value of caring potentially unifies the diverging worldviews. The article discusses the implications if mainstream news media fail to provide an arena for diverse viewpoints on sustainability.