Media coverage of climate change: An international comparison

Ralf Barkemeyer, Frank Figge (), Andreas Hoepner, Diane Holt, Johannes Marcelus Kraak and Pei-Shan Yu

Environment and Planning C, 2017, vol. 35, issue 6, 1029-1054

Abstract: We present an international comparison of broadsheet newspaper coverage of climate change. We employ two complementary theoretical lenses, multiple streams theory and institutional theory, to explore why climate change has become headline news in some countries but has received comparatively little coverage in others. The study utilises a worldwide sample across 41 different countries for the year 2008, covering 113 leading national broadsheet newspapers. A cross-sectional regression model is used to identify whether and how a range of contextual factors impact coverage of climate change. To a certain extent, a country’s direct exposure to climate change and the measures that have been taken to combat global warming influence the position of climate change on the media agenda. Crucially, however, we identify a number of contextual factors that impact climate change-related media coverage in different national contexts. In particular, we find a significantly positive relationship between regulatory quality and levels of media coverage. At the same time, unemployment trends are significantly negatively related to media attention to climate change. Gross domestic product per capita does not help to explain levels of climate change-related media coverage. In other words, climate change appears to have moved beyond simply being a ‘rich country issue’.

Keywords: Climate change; institutional theory; media coverage; multiple streams theory; agenda setting; broadsheet newspapers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirc:v:35:y:2017:i:6:p:1029-1054

DOI: 10.1177/0263774X16680818

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