No need for annual green issue, says Vanity Fair

It's spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and everything is going green. Everything, that is, except Vanity Fair, which has decided to ditch its annual "green issue".

For the past three years, the monthly glossy has made much of dedicating its May issue to the environment: from Leonardo DiCaprio posing on an iceberg to last year's open letter from Robert Kennedy Jnr to the next president calling for action on global warming. This year, the tradition has been quietly dropped.

Conde Nast, publisher of Vanity Fair, argues that the environment has become so integral to the news agenda that there is no longer a need for a dedicated issue. "Vanity Fair remains committed to covering the environment, and we'll spread our coverage throughout the year, instead of relegating the bulk of it to a specific issue," a spokeswoman says.

But others interpret the move as a sign that the environment is slipping down the agenda, overtaken by the economic crisis. This theory is backed by research showing that coverage of the environment has fallen significantly. The latest figures from TNS Media Intelligence, a research firm, show that national newspaper coverage of environmental issues - including climate change, global warming, green consumerism and sustainability - fell by 27 per cent in 2008. In the first quarter, there were 3866 articles published on green issues, compared with 2811 in the final quarter.

Vanity Fair admits that the recession has had a bearing: "With so much else going on relating to the global financial crisis, we have been focusing on that of late."

Environmentalists are concerned that the decision may have an unwelcome effect on the perception of green issues.

"It is vital that green living is not treated as a trend that comes and goes, but that it becomes part of the way we live," says Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF.

For other magazines, the environment remains an important issue. Prospect, the cerebral monthly, recently launched a section dedicated to science, and, says a spokeswoman, the environment is "more important to us than ever". Reader's Digest is launching an "eco" issue in June, featuring a piece by Prince Charles.

- INDEPENDENT