Media coverage of climate change: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:13, 7 December 2023

Revision as of 02:17, 11 December 2023

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===Turkey===

{{See also|Greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey|Climate change in Turkey}}

A study of mainstream media coverage in the late 2010s said that it tended to cover the consequences of climate change rather than mitigation or adaptation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fide |first=Ece Baykal |date=November 2022 |title=Turkish press climate crisis coverage (2018–2019): elements of disconnect in discourses and the representation of solutions |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-perspectives-on-turkey/article/turkish-press-climate-crisis-coverage-20182019-elements-of-disconnect-in-discourses-and-the-representation-of-solutions/1720867415BEF50054861A68118C3747 |journal=New Perspectives on Turkey |language=en |volume=67 |pages=32–56 |doi=10.1017/npt.2022.8 |s2cid=248583677 |issn=0896-6346|doi-access=free }}</ref>

===United Kingdom===

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Along with heatwaves, other problems that arise from climate change tend to generate more media coverage. Specifically, the issue of flooding as a result from the changing climate draws attention, and therefore, causes media to report on the issue. In a six year span, between 2001 and 2007, the UK had over a hundred articles per newspaper covering the topic of flooding, showing a clear concern with extreme weather events<ref name=":9" />. However, although the UK tends to frame climate change as being the fault of humans more than the US, the newspapers often ignore the role that climate change plays in these extreme events. In the hundreds of articles about flooding in the UK between 2001 and 2007, climate change was only mentioned 55 times in any of them. The ''Guardian'' had the most mentions of climate change and drawing connections between climate change and issues such as flooding. However, the ''Guardian'' still only mentioned climate change 17 times out of 197 stories about climate change<ref name=":9" />. Therefore, extreme events and tangible effects can be observed such as floods or heatwaves do cause more attention on the issue with an increased amount of media, however, the media does not always draw the connections between the issues and climate change.

There is a diverse range of types of articles the media companies in the United Kingdom are presenting to the public. Specifically looking at ''[[The Guardian]], [[The Observer|The]]'' [[The Observer|''Observer'']], ''[[Daily Mail|The Daily Mail]], [[The Mail on Sunday|Mail on Sunday]],'' ''[[The Sunday Telegraph|Sunday Telegraph]]'', ''[[The Times]]'' and ''[[The Sunday Times|Sunday Times]]''. In one article, newspapers are categorized into running from anthropogenic global warming only contributes to climate change to anthropogenic global warming negligently contributes to climate change. In this study, it is clear that on average, these news sources have increased in scientific credibility<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last1=McAllister |first1=Lucy |last2=Daly |first2=Meaghan |last3=Chandler |first3=Patrick |last4=McNatt |first4=Marisa |last5=Benham |first5=Andrew |last6=Boykoff |first6=Maxwell |date=August 2021 |title=Balance as bias, resolute on the retreat? Updates & analyses of newspaper coverage in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada over the past 15 years |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac14eb |journal=Environmental Research Letters |language=en |volume=16 |issue=9 |pages=094008 |doi=10.1088/1748-9326/ac14eb |bibcode=2021ERL....16i4008M |s2cid=237158159 |issn=1748-9326|doi-access=free }}</ref>.

In 2006 Futerra published research to determine if feedback from the UK community on the topic of global warming was either positive or negative. The results were that only 25 percent of the climate change newspapers were positive. A huge media company that participated in the positive feedback was the [[Financial Times]] in which it contained the most coverage relating to the truth of climate change, even mentioning that it opens up business opportunities. That specific comment from the Financial Times created a movement that made businesses act faster than the government in brainstorming solutions for the related problems. The commuters of London, reaching to the amount of a million participants, on the date of October 25, 2007, they were provided a free metro newspaper which contained an important article with the headline “We’re in the biggest race of our lives.” which encompassed the details of the fourth report of the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO). The contents of the GEO presented how the actions placed on climate change were critically insufficient. A surplus of UK citizens were not ready for a change with the present facts of scientific uncertainty<ref name=":8" />.

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[[George Monbiot]], a weekly column writer for ''The Guardian'', says specifically in Birtian he sees, there is a prevalent discourse of unity and collaboration when it comes to environmental concerns in media outlets such as: The Guardian, The Times, the Sun and the Independent. He also claims to have read “utter nonsense” in The Daily Mail or The Sunday Telegraph<ref name=":11" />.

A specific case of the community's reaction to climate change can be seen in the YouthStrike4Climate movement, specifically [[UK Youth Climate Coalition]] (UKYCC) and the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN). According to Bart Cammaerts, there has been an overall positive media representation of the climate movement from United Kingdom media outlets. It is significant that 60% of the ''Daily Mail''’s articles written about the climate movement were in a negative tone. While the ''BBC'' had over 70% written in a positive tone. There are a range of media outlets covering climate change, and they all have different opinions on the movement<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Cammaerts |first=Bart |date=2023-05-09 |title=The mediated circulation of the United Kingdom's YouthStrike4Climate movement's discourses and actions |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13675494231165645 |journal=European Journal of Cultural Studies |language=en |pages=136754942311656 |doi=10.1177/13675494231165645 |s2cid=258629629 |issn=1367-5494|doi-access=free }}</ref>.

While there are diverse perspectives represented in print media, right-wing newspapers reach far more readers. For example, the right-leaning ''[[Daily Mail]]'' and ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' each circulated more than 1 million copies in 2019, while the left-wing equivalents, [[Daily Mirror]] and [[The Guardian]] only circulated 600,000 copies<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mayhew |first=Freddy |date=2019-02-14 |title=National newspaper ABCs: Mail titles see slower year-on-year circulation decline as bulk sales distortion ends |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/media_metrics/national-newspaper-abcs-mail-titles-see-year-on-year-circulation-lift-as-bulk-sales-distortion-ends/ |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=Press Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref>. Over time, these right-wing newspapers have published less editorials opposing climate action. In 2011, the proportion of these editorials was 5:1 against climate change. In 2021, this ratio had dropped to 1:9. Additionally, articles critical of climate action have shifted away from outright denial of climate change. Instead, these editorials highlight the costs associated with climate action, as well as blame other countries for climate change<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prater |first=Josh Gabbatiss, Sylvia Hayes, Joe Goodman and Tom |title=Analysis: How UK newspapers changed their minds about climate change |url=https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/how-uk-newspapers-changed-minds-climate-change/url |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=interactive.carbonbrief.org |language=en}}</ref>.