This paper explores which actors and factors influence media coverage of climate change in Russia. It does this by analysing the coverage of three events by five Russian national newspapers (Komsomol'skaya pravda, Rossiyskaya gazeta, Izvestiya, Kommersant and Sovetskaya Rossiya). The three events are the Kyoto Conference in 1997, the Copenhagen Conference in 2009 and the Russian heat-wave of 2010. This paper concludes that regardless of the ownership structure of the newspapers or their dependence on advertising, there is little difference in quantity and quality of overall coverage on climate change. With most newspapers relying on Russian officials as information sources, almost none criticise or question Russian climate policy. Furthermore, the article concludes that, in Russia, the omission of climate change issues from discussion in national newspapers becomes a greater problem than biased coverage, as the lack of commentary decidedly prevents these issues from entering the public debate.
3As a significant emitter of greenhouse gases and a country rich in fossil fuels, Russia plays a crucial role in achieving a comprehensive solution to climaterelated challenges. Yet, Russia's official position on climate change has varied considerably since the beginning of global negotiations, with the country playing everything from policy leader to laggard. While there are a number factors that shape domestic policy positions on climate change, this study offers a comprehensive investigation of newspaper coverage on climate change in Russia. How have Russian newspapers discussed the issue since the Yeltsin era? We approach this question by compiling the largest data set of Russian newspaper coverage to date, which includes 11,131 climate-related articles from 65 papers over a roughly 35 year period. After introducing a "computer assisted" approach to measure the core themes running through climate change coverage, we statistically evaluate the national-and newspaper-level factors associated with how coverage is framed, focusing attention on 23 high circulation papers over the period from 2000 to 2014. We find that national-level predictors-particularly economic conditions-are highly influential of whether climate change is covered and how the issue is framed, while paper-level factors such as the presence of energy interest and ownership structure also have notable effects. Overall, this study offers a rich data set and an array of methods to better understand the drivers of climate communication in Russia.Keywords: climate change, newspaper coverage, Russia, text analysis 4
Introduction
5As the world's fourth largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, Russia remains a 6 vital piece of any comprehensive and effective plan to mitigate the harmful effects The importance of mass media in communicating climate change risks has 60 been stressed by a variety of scholars (Bell
This article looks at how Kazakhstan's heavy dependence on fossil fuels and its political context shape national discourse on climate change. Based on extensive analysis of the country's strategic documents and expert interviews, we argue that although Kazakhstan's economy relies on fossil fuels, the government is keen to promote sustainable development to attract international investments and advance its image as a 'strong state' for the domestic audience, and as a progressive and reliable partner for the international audience. Whilst there is little evidence of 'post-colonial' rhetoric appearing in Kazakhstan's official climate change discourse, the state's past is evident in its instrumental approach to environmental issues which in turn translates into inconsistencies in its climate change policy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.