UK Media coverage of outdoor swimming: a new ACCESS, C3DS, Environment Agency Report

This ACCESS-funded project, conducted by the Centre for Climate Communication and Data Science (C3DS) in collaboration with the Environment Agency, examined media coverage of bathing water discourse in online UK newspapers.

The project provided insight into media narratives, debates and discourses surrounding outdoor swimming, with a particular focus on water-based risk, pollution and water quality.

The researchers analysed over 19,000 online news articles from a range of national and local news outlets over the time period 2019 – 2025 using a combination of AI-assisted taxonomy development methods at scale and in-depth qualitative thematic analysis, guided by collaborative conversations with stakeholders.

The Report

The report suggests media coverage of the issue of outdoor swimming and particularly pollution is varied and complex.

Key findings:

• Media coverage of outdoor swimming has seen an upwards trend since 2019
• Outdoor swimming is described as positive, but with safety risks
• When pollution is discussed, articles present information mostly on the impact in terms of water quality, rather than discussing the causes or potential solutions to this problem.
• Institutional frameworks are framed as the only ways in which action takes place on pollution

Read the full report for key findings, case studies and methodology.

Project Team

The project was led by Professor Travis Coan (Co-Director of C3DS) and Dr Anna Lorentzon (Principal Social Scientist at the Environment Agency).

Ranadheer (Ranu) Malla, Research Associate and PhD student at C3DS, conducted the AI analysis.

Dr Sylvia Hayes, Research Fellow at C3DS, conducted detailed, qualitative analysis of the key themes which emerged.

Authors of the report were: Sylvia Hayes, Travis Coan, Ranu Malla, Saffron O’Neill and Anna Lorentzon.

Anna Lorentzon said:

“It’s been great to work with Sylvia and ACCESS on this project. It’s shown how media coverage has changed over time and given a better, evidence based and balanced understanding of claims made in the media about outdoor swimming. It’s also been an interesting learning experience working on a project together with academics combining AI methods and ‘manual’ thematic analysis.”

Sylvia Hayes said:

“It’s been amazing to work on this collaborative project looking at the politics and public understanding around outdoor swimming, a really timely issue for the UK at the moment. Understanding how the media report on environmental issues like this is so important to get an insight on public engagement and awareness of an issue. The findings show how important it is to bring together different disciplines within and beyond social science, but also to work closely with non-academic stakeholders to understand the nuances of many environmental issues.”

Presenting the findings

Anna Lorentzon will be presenting the findings to colleagues at the Environment Agency in September.

Sylvia Hayes will be presenting the report at the Outdoor Swimming Research Forum in Windermere on 10 September.

Read more on the project here, or contact Sylvia Hayes: S.Hayes3@exeter.ac.uk for more information.