Ideological cultures and media discourses on scientific knowledge: re-reading news on climate change

Anabela Carvalho

doi:10.1177/0963662506066775

Abstract

Focusing on the representation of climate change in the British “quality press,” this article argues that the discursive (re)construction of scientific claims in the media is strongly entangled with ideological standpoints. Understood here as a set of ideas and values that legitimate a program of action vis-à-vis a given social and political order, ideology works as a powerful selection device in deciding what is scientific news, i.e. what the relevant “facts” are, and who are the authorized “agents of definition” of science matters. The representation of scientific knowledge has important implications for evaluating political programs and assessing the responsibility of both governments and the public in addressing climate change.

Highlights

The media have a crucial responsibility as a source of information and opinions about science and technology for citizens
See Carvalho (2005) for an analysis centered on the politics of climate change in the press, i.e. representations of issues, events and debates related to the political management of climate change, at the national and international levels
Through the examination of news articles on climate change, this article has illustrated that there is a crucial cross-insemination between the normative and the descriptive, or the axiological and epistemological in the media’s discursive reconstruction of science

Summary

Introduction

The media have a crucial responsibility as a source of information and opinions about science and technology for citizens. This article will analyze discursive representations of scientific knowledge of climate change and unpack the ideological standpoints that are dominant in the British “quality press.”. Antilla (2005) has analyzed the frames constructed by a large number of American newspapers and wire services in relation to climate change science between March 2003 and February 2004 She contrasts the growing consensus in the scientific community with a media-generated image of controversy or uncertainty, with a great deal of attention being given to a handful of climate “skeptics.”. What ideological issues are interplayed in the discursive construction of science on climate change in the British “quality press” and how do such issues shape depictions of knowledge claims? This article focuses mainly on media texts where the main topic is knowledge claims regarding climate change (e.g. scientific progress documented in articles, conferences and reports). See Carvalho (2005) for an analysis centered on the politics of climate change in the press, i.e. representations of issues, events and debates related to the political management of climate change, at the national and international levels (e.g. summits, political speeches and policy programs)

Climate change sciences in the British press

Findings

Conclusions