Constructing climate change: claims and frames in US news coverage of an environmental issue

Abstract

An empirical content analysis of a decade of coverage of climate change in five national newspapers in the US is presented. The analysis is based on the perspective, drawn from social problems theory, that the content of news discourse can be understood in terms of claims-making and framing. Climate change is also discussed in terms of Downs' issue-attention cycle, a five-stage model describing the rise and fall of social attention to important issues. Climate change, as a news story, is described as exhibiting three phases that are related to the sources quoted and the frames presented in the news coverage. Results of the analysis show that scientists tend to be associated with frames emphasizing problems and causes, while politicians and special interests tend to be associated with frames emphasizing judgments and remedies. Results also show how scientists declined as news sources as the issue became increasingly politicized.

Media coverage of climate change in spanish-speaking online media

“…In the initial reports on global warming when the issue first appeared in the public agenda, scientists were the main sources of information, but later on politicians and interest groups (industry and environmental) came into picture (Trumbo, 1996). Wilkins (1993) highlights that in 1990, the majority of sources cited in news items on global warming shifted from scientists to politicians and interest groups.…”

“…Jaspal and Nerlich (2014: 2) also state that 1988 "can therefore be seen as a crest of a wave of social, political and media recognition of climate change as a global problem in need of global solutions". cc had transcended the field of science and entered into the socio-political sphere, resulting in an increase in media coverage in the United States (Ungar, 1992;Trumbo, 1996), the United Kingdom (Carvalho and Burguess, 2005) and Germany (Weingart, Engels and Pansegrau, 2000).…”

Global issue, developed country bias: the Paris climate conference as covered by daily print news organizations in 13 nations

“…Acknowledging the importance of the media in relation to climate change, many studies have explored media coverage of climate change in the USA (Antilla 2005;Antilla 2010;Gelbspan 2004;McComas and Shanahan 1999;Nissani 1999;Trumbo 1996;Zehr 2000;Boykoff 2008a). Others have looked at countries such as the UK (Boykoff 2008b;Doulton and Brown 2009;Gavin and Marshall 2011;Carvalho and Burgess 2005), Australia (McManus 2000;Henderson-Sellers 1998), Japan (Sampei and Aoyagi-Usui 2009), and Canada (Einsiedel 1992;Young and Dugas 2011).…”

“…Several papers explored these trends through the lens of Anthony Downs' issue-attention cycle (1972), arguing that media attention performs an agenda-setting function (McComas and Shanahan 1999;Trumbo 1996). Schmidt et al (2013) took this a step further in their investigation of media attention on climate change in 27 different countries between 1996 and 2010.…”

How Grammatical Choice Shapes Media Representations of Climate (Un)certainty

“…This focus on prestige press not only permits closer comparison with previous studies (e.g. Boykoff, 2007;Brossard et al, 2004;Trumbo, 1996), but it also acknowledges the important agenda-setting role these newspapers play in mass media news coverage. Golan (2007), for instance, found a significant correlation between New York Times coverage and evening network television broadcasts, which led him to conclude that the Times sets the agenda for other media outlets.…”