Media attention for climate change around the world: A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage in 27 countries

• Published in: Global environmental change Vol. 23; no. 5; pp. 1233 - 1248
• Main Authors: Schmidt, Andreas, Ivanova, Ana, Schäfer, Mike S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Air pollution; Carbon; Climate; Climate change; Climate politics; correlation; Cross-country comparison; Environmental problems; Greenhouse effect; greenhouse gas emissions; Greenhouse gases; Human ecology and demography; Issue attention cycles; issues and policy; Longitudinal study; Media; Media attention; Representations; Sociology; Sociology of communication and mass media. Sociolinguistics; Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture; Germany; India; Climate change; Cross-country comparison; Climate politics; Media attention; Issue attention cycles; Longitudinal study; Follow-up study; Environmental Policy; Attention; Media coverage; Media; Crossnational Comparisons; Comparative analysis; Cyclical Processes
• ISSN: 0959-3780; 1872-9495
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.07.020

•Large-scale analysis of climate change media coverage in countries from all continents.•Climate change receives considerable media attention in all countries under study.•Issue attention rose significantly between 1996 and 2010.•It is particularly high in countries with tough Kyoto emission targets.
Climate change is a global phenomenon, and its outcomes affect societies around the world. So far, however, studies on media representations of climate change have mostly concentrated on Western societies. This paper goes beyond this limited geographical scope by presenting a comparative analysis of issue attention in 27 countries. The sample includes, among others, countries that have committed themselves to greenhouse gas emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol such as Germany as well as countries that are strongly affected by the consequences of climate change like India. In a first step, it describes the development of media attention for climate change in these countries from 1996 to 2010. Second, it compares the amount of media attention and explores whether it corresponds with indicators measuring the relevance of climate change and climate policies for a country. The analyses show that climate change coverage has increased in all countries. Still, overall media attention levels, as well as the extent of growth over time, differ strongly between countries. Media attention is especially high in carbon dependent countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.