Mass Media Roles in Climate Change Mitigation

Straws, seals, and supermarkets: Topics in the newspaper coverage of marine plastic pollution

“…Media outlets are one of people's main source of information, which is why understanding media output is an important piece of understanding the nature of public opinion and concern. This is especially the case with complex issues that may not be directly observable or explainable in person (Happer & Philo, 2013;Swain, 2012), where people have to more heavily rely on exterior sources for information. The relationship between media and public opinion is likely to work in both directions: growing public concern demands more reporting, but event-focused or otherwise inspired news stories also draw public attention to particular issues (Boykoff, 2007;Sampei & Aoyagi-Usui, 2009).…”

“…Besides these large-scale movements in media reporting, it is also important to consider stories on a much smaller scale. For example, whether a journalist focuses on a solution to an issue or on the extent of the issue itself, whether they cover local or global effects, and many other nuances in framing, may have a significant impact on attitudes and behaviour, shaping whether or not concern is translated into action for the readers (Swain, 2012). Research into the portrayal of climate change reports has found that readers can draw different conclusions about who is responsible for environmental issues, depending on how a story is framed.…”

Media, Soil Health and Climate Change Mitigation in Canada

“…Climate news coverage prompted the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and intensified global scientific research on greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite the media's milestone achievement inspiring the formation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), media participation in climate change issues tends to focus on the impacts of the crisis while neglecting climate action (Swain 2014). Knowledge exchange and communication are key targets in climate action as encapsulated in the Sustainable Development Goals.…”

Chanting to the choir: the dialogical failure of antithetical climate change blogs

“…(4) Offer the opportunity for publics interested in science to explore the complexities of science and to use sources of information and news outside of traditional mass media [Lemonick, 2010;Luzón, 2013;Readfearn, 2010;Schmidt, 2008;Ritson, 2016;Trench, 2012]; and (5) Enable scientists, journalists and science communicators to engage with publics to explain the scientific contexts behind the news [Bell, 2012;Colson, 2011;Jarreau and Porter, 2018;Luzón, 2013;Swain, 2012;Wilkins, 2008].…”