Mapping in an Echo Chamber: How Cartographic Silence Frames Conservative Media’s Climate Change Denial

Carolyn S. Fish and Katie Quines Kreitzberg

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2023, vol. 113, issue 10, 2480-2496

Abstract: Maps are a key way through which the science of climate change is communicated, but as partisan divides lead to new ideologically driven consumption patterns of news sources, it is important to understand how the media uses maps across the political spectrum. In this study, we investigate how maps have been incorporated into climate change communication in conservative media. Our research has two major findings. First, compared to mainstream media, conservative media is far less likely to use maps in reporting on climate change. We call this lack of maps a “cartographic silence,” borrowing and expanding on Harley’s term. Second, when conservative media uses maps, never do they create their own maps to accompany false arguments. Instead, these maps are republished from other media or peer-reviewed science, and reframed by logical fallacies. We conclude by offering suggestions about how scientists can improve their maps in hopes that they will be less susceptible to use in conservative disinformation efforts.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24694452.2023.2227672 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:113:y:2023:i:10:p:2480-2496

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/raag21

DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2023.2227672

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of the American Association of Geographers is currently edited by Jennifer Cassidento

More articles in Annals of the American Association of Geographers from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().