The Narrative Cycle of Climate Change in the Greek Newspapers, 2001–2008

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to establish whether the longitudinal framing of climate change (CC) in Greek newspapers exhibits the characteristics of a “narrative cycle,” with different themes becoming prominent at different periods in accordance with the media’s narrative considerations. In order to test this assumption, we formulate a number of hypotheses which we test with data originating from three Greek newspapers over the period 2001–2008. We find that the scientific and ecological/meteorological themes of CC are more often mentioned during the initial phase of media coverage, arguably due to media’s attempt to open the narrative and capture the public’s attention. Public protests and debate feature more prominently during the peaked phase of coverage, in accordance with the narrative need for a climax, while the later period of coverage, when some kind of resolution to the story should be offered, is characterized by the prominence of policy-making and economy-related issues.