The New York Times and a few other major national news organizations, along with their sources of information, were effective in placing the global environment on the American agenda of problems during the late 1980s. This appears to have been an unplanned outcome, largely the result of a few specific environmental problems with different constituencies all becoming important news stories at about the same time. Each story reinforced the attention given to the others, so that their global linkages and common elements were emphasized. This case illustrates the interplay among national news media, prominent news sources, and extraneous events in shaping national concerns.