Networks of Coproduction

Abstract

This study examines the interrelations between journalists and communication practitioners from environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Taking the annual United Nations climate change conferences as a case in point, we show that the exceptional circumstances of these events foster a temporary blurring of the professional boundaries between both actor groups that partly results in a joint production of interpretations. Based on seventy-eight semistandardized interviews with journalists and NGO representatives, we identify four distinct coproduction networks that pair particular types of journalists and NGO communicators. Our analysis shows that (1) the journalistic beat, (2) the type of media journalists work for, (3) journalists' and NGOs' perceived target audiences, and also (4) the NGOs' strategic orientation toward either lobbying or popular mobilization are decisive for the formation of these networks. Our study helps to systematically explain message production in a transnational context and provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between journalism and public relations.

Power, the Pacific Islands, and the Prestige Press: A Case Study of How Climate Reporting is Influenced by UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Summits

“…Described by Wozniak et al (2017Wozniak et al ( : 1436 as the "camp feeling," COPs create a spatially and temporally condensed environment where journalists and NGO representatives share work spaces and cross paths frequently. This allows for a mutual flow of information between two groups engaged in shaping how messages from COPs are communicated to the public (Lück et al 2016). Lück et al (2016) outline several distinct "coproduction networks" between different types of journalists and environmental NGO stakeholders that are formed during COPs, which lead to similar frames and interpretations of the summits.…”

“…This allows for a mutual flow of information between two groups engaged in shaping how messages from COPs are communicated to the public (Lück et al 2016). Lück et al (2016) outline several distinct "coproduction networks" between different types of journalists and environmental NGO stakeholders that are formed during COPs, which lead to similar frames and interpretations of the summits.…”

Communication and Knowledge Transfer on Climate Change in the Philippines

“…Content analysis has proven that climate summits are main drivers of media attention to climate change worldwide (Schäfer, Ivanova, and Schmidt 2014). UN climate summits are a main point of reference in climate communication research; most studies focus on communicators on site such as journalists, politicians or NGOs (Lück, Wozniak, and Wessler 2016; Roosvall and Tegelberg 2013; Russell 2013), or on the media coverage (Lück, Wozniak, and Wessler 2016;Zamith, Pinto, and Villar 2013). Yet few studies have explored the audience perspective during climate summits (Wonneberger, Meijers and Schuck 2020).…”

We are Climate Change

“…Content analysis has proven that climate summits are main drivers of media attention to climate change worldwide (Schäfer, Ivanova, and Schmidt 2014). UN climate summits are a main point of reference in climate communication research; most studies focus on communicators on site such as journalists, politicians or NGOs (Lück, Wozniak, and Wessler 2016;Roosvall and Tegelberg 2013;Russell 2013), or on the media coverage (Lück, Wozniak, and Wessler 2016;Zamith, Pinto, and Villar 2013). Yet few studies have explored the audience perspective during climate summits (Wonneberger, Meijers and Schuck 2020).…”