Actors and justifications in media debates on Arctic climate change in Finland and Canada: A network approach

Anna Kukkonen,Tuomas Ylä-Anttila,Mark Cj Stoddart

doi:10.1177/0001699319890902

Anna Kukkonen, Tuomas Ylä-Anttila + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699319890902

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Abstract

In this paper, we examine the centrality of policy actors and moral justifications in media debates on Arctic climate change in Finland and Canada from 2011–2015. We take a network approach on the media debates by analysing relations between the actors and justifications, using discourse network analysis on a dataset of 745 statements from four newspapers. We find that in both countries, governments and universities are the most central actors, whereas business actors are the least central. Justifications that value environmental sustainability and scientific knowledge are most central and used across actor types. However, ecological justifications are sometimes in conflict with market justifications. Government actors emphasize new economic possibilities in the Arctic whereas environmental organizations demand greater protection of the vulnerable Arctic. Ecological justifications and justifications that value international cooperation are more central in the Finnish debate, whereas justifications valuing sustainability and science, as well as those valuing national sovereignty, are more central in the Canadian debate. We conclude that in addition to the centrality of specific policy actors in media debates, the use of different types of moral justifications also reflects political power in the media sphere.

Highlights

Climate policymaking takes place in official policy venues, such as in ministries and parliamentary committees, and includes more than public officials and politicians
The first two networks (Figures 1(a) and 1(b)) are actor networks that visualize the centrality of different policy actors and the connections between them in Finland and Canada, respectively
This article examined the centrality of policy actors and moral justifications in media debates on Arctic climate change in Finland and Canada from 2011–15 using Discourse Network Analysis (Leifeld, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

Climate policymaking takes place in official policy venues, such as in ministries and parliamentary committees, and includes more than public officials and politicians. These studies have, on the one hand, shown that media is a contested arena where various policy actors, such as scientists, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and corporations, compete over the framing of climate change to influence policymaking (Boykoff, 2011; Bulkeley, 2000; Crow and Boykoff, 2014; Hajer, 1993) These studies suggest that actors’ media visibility and political power are linked to each other and are in line with those theoretical approaches that emphasize the role of the mass media as a power resource These studies suggest instead that political power operates outside the media as politically influential actors use more direct means to advance their interests (cf. Culpepper, 2010; Dur and Mateo, 2013)

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