Driving discussion: Media framing of electric, hydrogen, and conventional vehicles in German newspapers and Twitter

Abstract

Decarbonizing the transportation sector will require a faster transformation towards alternative fuel vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Media framing can influence public perceptions and attitudes towards emerging technologies, making it a critical factor in accelerating transportation transitions. Yet despite its importance, media framing around alternative fuel vehicles remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we map the discourse around BEVs, FCEVs, and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in Germany, using topic modeling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) to analyze over 13,000 articles and 280,000 Tweets. We find that newspaper and Twitter discourse largely emphasize different frames: newspapers focus on the industry and governance context around BEVs, FCEVs and ICEVs, while consumer-oriented issues are more common on Twitter. Industry and governance are common frames for all vehicle types but outweighed by distinct frames for each technology. The frames show that BEVs are now widely seen as a viable replacement for ICEVs in newspapers but remain contested on Twitter.