Climate change in news media across the globe: An automated analysis of issue attention and themes in climate change coverage in 10 countries (2006–2018)

• Published in: Global environmental change Vol. 70; p. 102353
• Main Authors: Hase, Valerie, Mahl, Daniela, Schäfer, Mike S., Keller, Tobias R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Attention; Automated Content Analysis; Automation; Climate Change; Climate science; Comparative Research; Comparative studies; Computational Social Science; Content analysis; Longitudinal Analysis; Media Coverage; News media; Southern Hemisphere; Media Coverage; Automated Content Analysis; Climate Change; Longitudinal Analysis; Comparative Research; Computational Social Science
• ISSN: 0959-3780; 1872-9495
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102353

[Display omitted] •Systematic comparison of climate change coverage between the Global South/North.•Considerable, but no longer increasing attention to climate change (2006–2018).•Coverage often focuses on the societal dimension of the climate crisis.•Focusing events, such COPs, associated with attention to climate change across the world.•Global North covers climate change more while South focuses on its impacts on humans. Climate change poses a challenge to countries across the world, with news media being an important source of information on the issue. To understand how and how much news media cover climate change, this study compares coverage in ten countries from the Global North and the Global South between 2006 and 2018 (N = 71,674). Based on a panel analysis, we illustrate that news media attention varies across countries and is often associated with political, scientific, and (partly) societal focusing events. Based on an automated content analysis, we also find that news media do not only cover ecological changes or climate science, but that they focus predominantly on the societal dimension of climate change: They emphasize how humans are aware of, affected by, battle, or cause climate change. Overall, the study illustrates important differences between the Global North and the Global South. While countries from the Global North cover climate change more frequently, countries from the Global South focus more on its challenges and implications for society at large, i.e., the societal dimension of climate change.