Arctic sea ice and the communication of climate change

Abstract

ABSTRACTMedia play a major role in framing key political issues such as climate change, and the melting of the Arctic snow and ice has become a bellwether of global climate change through the mediations of the region and its wildlife. While Arctic change has scientific significance for understanding global warming, it also plays a key role in the popular communication of global climate change and its impacts. This article addresses questions such as how the Arctic and its sea ice have become become powerful images of climate change, and what roles scientific activities, technologies, and networks play in relation to media and mediation. Drawing upon earlier research on the role of the media and framing in relation to climate change in general and upon Arctic climate change in particular, we explore how media framings are linked with various dynamics such as scientific practice and the institutional structure of the media system.