Framing climate change in local context: Newspaper coverage of climate change in three mountain towns in the intermountain west compared to national coverage

Abstract

Research examines how journalists cover and frame the issue of climate change in mainly nationally circulated newspapers. This study compares and contrasts the framing of climate change between two nationally circulated newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and three intermountain west, mountain town, community newspapers, Jackson Hole News & Guide in Jackson Hole, WY, Summit Daily in Summit County, CO, and Park Record in Park City, UT. This research compares national versus community coverage, coverage over time for the years 2011 and 2016, and coverage between the three communities, using five commonly used frames, responsibility, human interest, conflict, morality and economic consequences. Results indicate there are statistically significant differences when comparing national to community newspaper coverage as well as between the three community papers, indicating the importance of local context in media coverage of climate change and in frame analysis more generally. Climate change is a partisan issue, but community newspapers may be less partisan, so analyzing newspaper coverage at various scales adds to our understanding of how different contexts shape media coverage, which in turn may shape views on climate change.