10 - The media coverage of climate change in Portugal

Behavioral science approaches to promoting sustainable action have mainly focused on cognitive processes, whereas the role of emotions has received comparably little attention. However, emotions have a great but currently not fully exploited potential to contribute to a sustainable behavior change. In this perspective, we summarize recent research emphasizing the central and indispensable role of emotion in human thinking and judgment. We discuss how these insights can promote affective reactivity toward sustainability issues, help leverage the potential of emotion to motivate action, and improve emotional climate change communication and intervention strategies. We outline a research agenda that we see as crucial for obtaining a solid evidence base on how emotions can optimally promote sustainable behavior. This paper is meant to stimulate discussion and a coordinated research effort on how emotions may be better leveraged to promote large-scale sustainable action and to promote a stronger integration of emotional strategies into the toolbox of policy makers.

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged against the backdrop of the longer-term climate change crisis and increasing global awareness of the imperative for climate action, disrupting the post-Paris trajectory of climate policy and media coverage of climate change. We examine news media coverage from Canadian legacy newspapers and answer three questions. First, did the COVID-19 pandemic work as a critical event in its impacts on news media coverage of climate change, and if so, in what ways? Second, did media framing of climate change shift in response to this critical event, and if so, in what ways? Third, are there notable differences between national and subnational media frames? We find that COVID-19 is a critical event linked to a period of reduced media coverage of climate change. However, this critical event also opened new spaces for news framing that connects environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability.

News media is one of the main sources of information for many people around the world on climate change. It does not only increase awareness among the public but also have the potential to sensitize people toward climate change impacts. Till date, few studies focus on media coverage of climate change in the low-income countries such as Pakistan which is among the top ten countries impacted by global warming. This study used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and analyzed 7,655 climate change-related news articles published between 2010 and 2021 in three Pakistani English newspapers. Our results suggest that climate change coverage in Pakistan has substantially increased over the years, however, the focus has generally been on "climate politics'', "climate governance and policy'', and "climate change and society''. Evolution of different themes and its potential implications on people are discussed.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate regional variations in the international news coverage of climate change by comparing news reporting in two regional media systems.Design/methodology/approachA case study of how COP14 and a European union (EU) summit on climate change are covered by three Middle Eastern and one Danish newspaper.FindingsThe paper shows significant regional differences in the media coverage of climate change both in terms of quantity (numbers of news articles) and quality (editorial variations, sources, framing, use of graphics). Overall, the study suggests that regional differences in climate change coverage can be traced back to the financial resources, institutional practices and journalistic fields of different regional media systems.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is a pilot project designed to test the analytical significance of regional variations in international media coverage of climate change.Originality/valueWhereas global variations in climate change coverage have mostly been documented by (quantitative) content analysis, less research has been devoted to qualitative differences on how the media approach and frame climate change. Numerical analysis only tells half the story as qualitative differences, such as editorial priorities, or journalistic practices, can either increase or decrease the significance of quantitative variations. By acknowledging the importance of regional differences in international news reporting, this paper emphasises the role and function of regional media systems in conditioning media coverage of climate change.

The 2022 heatwave in India formed part of a pattern of extreme weather events in the country, which are becoming more intense, frequent, or prolonged. The aim of this study is to explore media coverage of climate change and extreme events in a multilingual media context such as India. Data analysis of a large and diverse sample of Indian media coverage of the 2022 heatwave (n = 309) suggests that only 1 in every 7 news articles (14%) mentioned climate change in their heatwave coverage in the English press, and less than 10% in the Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi language news media. However, many English-language articles reported the links between climate change and the heatwave, although the figure was much lower for the other languages. Two Event Attribution studies analyzing the heatwave were widely quoted, albeit with some inaccuracies. Indian scientists were the most cited, whereas politicians and NGOs were largely absent, in contrast to previous research. Journalists regularly covered three aspects that affect the impact of the heatwave on ordinary people, namely emergency responses, disaster planning, and vulnerabilities. This study concludes by exploring theoretical and practical recommendations for media coverage of heatwaves and climate change.

Evidence from high-income countries suggests that greater media coverage of climate change is associated with greater public concern, while societal “shocks” reduce concern. Conducted in 2021, this UK study of adults (n = 6082) investigates climate change concern, its identification as among “the most important issues” and as “the single most important issue” facing the UK. It does so in the context of increased media coverage of climate change associated with the UK’s hosting COP26 and the COVID19 pandemic with its associated restrictions on everyday life. In analyses that took account of sociodemographic factors, neither increased media coverage around COP26 nor the COVID19 pandemic had an effect on climate change concern or its identification as an important issue for the UK. Its identification as the single most important issue was at its lowest at the height of the COVID19 pandemic, with no evidence that increased climate change coverage affected its issue salience.

Media coverage of climate change has attracted much scholarly attention because the extent of such coverage has an agenda-setting effect and because the ways in which the coverage is framed can influence public perception of and engagement with the issue. However, certain gaps in our understanding of the processes whereby such coverage is produced remain. The among strategic actors to influence media framing strategies is poorly understood, and the perspectives of journalists and editors are largely absent from literature. With a view to advancing our understanding of the frame competition around climate change and to presenting the perspectives of journalists regarding climate change as a journalistic topic, this book presents an in-depth case history of media coverage of climate change in Ireland. First, the extent of media attention for climate change is established, and the way in which such coverage is framed is also examined. Through a series of interviews, including rare and privileged access to government ministers, their media advisors, and journalists and editors, the book uncovers the contest to establish a dominant framing. The main objective of this book is to advance our understanding of the contest to establish the dominant framing of climate change in the media discourse. Although focussed on Ireland, its conclusions are of value to those seeking to better understand the dynamics of media coverage of climate change in other contexts. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental policy, media and communication studies, and Irish politics.

The issue of climate change has imposed itself on the news media's agenda, especially after the United States' decision to abandon and then return to the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. The current study focuses on climate change framing on TV news websites; namely, Nile News, Sky News Arabia, and CGTN Arabic. This was done using quantitative content analysis using framing theory. News coverage has varied in terms of publication rates on climate change (Sky News= 2820; Nile News= 178; CGTN Arabic= 105). Results indicated that attribution of responsibility, disaster, political struggle, and economic consequence frames dominated the news coverage of climate change during the sampling period. The results also showed the United States and China as the most mentioned countries in the news coverage of climate change. The current study can be added to literature that examines the coverage of environmental issues in the news media. In addition, it opens horizons about research on media coverage of climate change and its effects on peoples.

The study of the role of media in communicating climate change science is an emergent and fast-growing area of scholarship. Anthropogenic climate change, a long-term gradual shift toward temperature rise and extreme weather patterns, has been one of the biggest natural hazards and threats to human and natural ecosystems. The consequences of climate change appear massive and irreversible, including, inter alia, rising sea levels, melting polar ice, losses of biodiversity, intense droughts, catastrophic storms, severe flooding, and extinction of species. While the science of climate change is robust with overwhelming scientific consensus on the threats it poses to the planet, the policy responses to address it differ from one country to another. Despite the Paris Agreement being a legally binding international treaty on climate change with an ambition of containing the increase in the global average temperature to well below 1.5–2 degrees Celsius, scientific studies conducted in the early 21st century, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have reported that the “red code” is being crossed. The localization of the Paris Agreement is considered to be fragile, fragmented and inadequate. As has been widely acknowledged, the media play a critical role in communicating the importance of highlighting climate change issues and the need for appropriate policy responses. Studies on media effects have vividly demonstrated that the nature and extent of public reliance on the media to understand climate concerns are wide and extensive. The media play a catalyst role for scientific information dissemination and in shaping public understanding of science through public education, yet there is a mismatch between the scientific reality of climate change, climate policy, and the localization of actions at the national level. A growing field of research concerns the disconnection between scientific knowledge of climate change, information dissemination, and policy responses. At the same time, many scholars have suggested that the relationship between media and climate change is complex, and the driver of disconnection is the media’s commitment to the norm of “balanced but biased” reporting. Gaps in knowledge still exist about the role of media between countries; therefore, it is important for scholars to continue research on how media in different countries, both developed and developing, communicate climate change science and information to the public and shape public opinions for taking actions to address climate change. Analysis shows that the media coverage of climate change science differs between developed and developing countries and even countries within these two categories.

Climate change media coverage has been criticized for giving voice to denialist sources and for its detachment from local and individual experiences, emphasizing catastrophic and global impacts. This article seeks to understand the potential connection between regional media and local climate change meanings through analysis of the journalistic output in regional newspapers in three vulnerable coastal cities that have presented developments regarding local climate governance: Santos (Brazil), Selsey (UK) and Broward County (USA). The vehicles analyzed in each of the cities are A Tribuna de Santos, The Chichester Observer and The Sun Sentinel, respectively. The method used is quantitative content analysis, focusing on the appearance of sources and recurring local issues and symbols on the climate change coverage of these regional vehicles. As a result, there are interesting differences of sources and issues between regions, with beaches and shoreline neighborhoods condensing the attention over climate impacts in Santos and Broward; and the dangers of real estate development in lowlying land and natural reserves occupying the center of attention in Selsey. Among the three locations, only Broward presented a significant degree of climate denialist sources.

The role of media between expert and lay knowledge: A study of Iberian media coverage on climate change

Media coverage of climate change is arguably a fundamental factor shaping climate change attitudes and possibly behaviors, but its trends and determinants are still underinvestigated. In this paper, we analyze a comprehensive dataset representing more than 1.7 million online news articles covering climate change in the 28 countries of the European Union in 22 different languages for the period 2014–2019. We combine our news dataset with observed temperature data to investigate whether and how temperature abnormalities influence media coverage of climate change. We find that the strongest determinants of media coverage are positive deviations from short-term average temperatures. Abnormalities with respect to average temperatures in recent years have stronger effects than abnormalities with respect to temperatures in baseline periods that climatologists use to identify changes in climate. This suggests that the media are less influenced by scientific accounts of climatic changes than by shorter-term changes in weather patterns.

Climate policy uncertainty, media coverage of climate change, and energy markets: New evidence from time-varying causality analysis

Few studies analyze international media coverage of climate change, and few still explore media's role in public opinion about climate change from a comparative perspective. Using data from the 2022 Yale Meta survey of 108,946 Facebook monthly active users from 110 countries and territories, the current research finds that perceived awareness is associated with perceived personal and future risks but not protest participation intention. Only perceived personal harm was associated with protest intention. People in countries most exposed to climate-related impacts were more likely to show heightened perceptions of harm to self and future generations. An analysis of a subset of countries (n = 52) where media coverage data was externally available for 2015–2022 indicates that media coverage is positively associated with self-reported exposure to climate change and perceived awareness about the issue. However, media coverage is not related to perceived personal or future risks and is negatively associated with protest participation intent across countries. Despite low media coverage of climate change, citizens in poor and developing countries see climate change as a greater risk and are more willing to participate in protests compared to citizens in developed countries. Findings help clarify theoretical and practical implications for climate change communication research.

Communicating Uncertainty about Climate Change: The Scientists’ Dilemma