Hitting the Headlines and Falling Down Again: Newspaper Coverage of Climate Change in Finland

Abstract

Many of the current environmental problems are cross-national. Perhaps the best example is anthropogenic climate change that is altering climatic conditions and ecosystem services and thus affecting economic, political and social structures of human communities throughout the world (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2008; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [MEA], 2005). The transnational character of many environmental problems is further emphasised by their connections with various other globalization processes. These include, e.g. global trade with long production and consumption chains and the creation of global product brands, advertising, and marketing (Lebel & Lorek, 2008). Global consolidation of media ownership, development of new information and communication technologies detached from place, and the increasing use of English are key trends of the globalization of the media (Hopper, 2007). Climate change has been recognised as a key concern by an overwhelming majority of scientists (Oreskes, 2004) and by a growing amount of policy-makers, businessmen and citizens. However, the public and policy concern over climate change is unevenly distributed between and within countries. One explanation for the country-by-country differences is the variation of quantity and quality of mass media coverage. Media visibility and the framings can vary considerably. This was shown by the media treatment of the international climate negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali 2008 (Eide et al., 2009) or Copenhagen 2009 (Painter, 2010) that varied across countries despite the commonly shared objects of news reporting. The high visibility of climate sceptics or climate contrarians in the US mainstream media compared to European countries such as Finland is another example (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007; UusiRauva & Tienari, 2010). National level media institutions combine international influences with local practices determined by social, political, economic and ecological contexts (Olausson, 2009; Adelekan, 2009). For example, the comparison between the commercially oriented US media system and public service oriented system, such as in Finland, shows that public service television devotes more attention to public affairs and international news, and fosters greater knowledge in these areas (Curran et al., 2009).