IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v35y2017i6p1029-1054.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Media coverage of climate change: An international comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Ralf Barkemeyer
  • Frank Figge
  • Andreas Hoepner
  • Diane Holt
  • Johannes Marcelus Kraak
  • Pei-Shan Yu

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’.

Suggested Citation

  • Ralf Barkemeyer & Frank Figge & Andreas Hoepner & Diane Holt & Johannes Marcelus Kraak & Pei-Shan Yu, 2017. "Media coverage of climate change: An international comparison," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(6), pages 1029-1054, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:35:y:2017:i:6:p:1029-1054
    DOI: 10.1177/0263774X16680818
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263774X16680818
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0263774X16680818?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joe Smith, 2005. "Dangerous News: Media Decision Making about Climate Change Risk," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1471-1482, December.
    2. Bengt-Åke Lundvall, 1999. "National Business Systems and National Systems of Innovation," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 60-77, June.
    3. Robert Brulle & Jason Carmichael & J. Jenkins, 2012. "Shifting public opinion on climate change: an empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 169-188, September.
    4. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    5. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2012. "What drives corporate social performance? The role of nation-level institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(9), pages 834-864, December.
    6. Anthony A. Leiserowitz, 2005. "American Risk Perceptions: Is Climate Change Dangerous?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1433-1442, December.
    7. Hofstede, G., 2006. "What did GLOBE really measure? Researchers' minds versus respondents' minds," Other publications TiSEM 53fc2049-e658-4cff-a440-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    9. Md Danesh Miah & Md Humayain Kabir & Masao Koike & Shalina Akther, 2011. "Major climate-change issues covered by the daily newspapers of Bangladesh," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 67-73, March.
    10. Anabela Carvalho & Jacquelin Burgess, 2005. "Cultural Circuits of Climate Change in U.K. Broadsheet Newspapers, 1985–2003," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1457-1469, December.
    11. Taciano L. Milfont, 2012. "The Interplay Between Knowledge, Perceived Efficacy, and Concern About Global Warming and Climate Change: A One‐Year Longitudinal Study," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 1003-1020, June.
    12. Stern, David I. & Common, Michael S. & Barbier, Edward B., 1996. "Economic growth and environmental degradation: The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainable development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 1151-1160, July.
    13. Matthew E. Kahn & Matthew J. Kotchen, 2010. "Environmental Concern and the Business Cycle: The Chilling Effect of Recession," NBER Working Papers 16241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Branden B. Johnson, 2012. "Climate Change Communication: A Provocative Inquiry into Motives, Meanings, and Means," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 973-991, June.
    15. Galeotti, Marzio & Lanza, Alessandro & Pauli, Francesco, 2006. "Reassessing the environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions: A robustness exercise," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 152-163, April.
    16. Gregory Jackson & Androniki Apostolakou, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Western Europe: An Institutional Mirror or Substitute?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 371-394, July.
    17. Maxwell T. Boykoff and J. Timmons Roberts, 2007. "Media Coverage of Climate Change: Current Trends, Strengths, Weaknesses," Human Development Occasional Papers (1992-2007) HDOCPA-2007-03, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    18. Susanne C. Moser, 2010. "Communicating climate change: history, challenges, process and future directions," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 1(1), pages 31-53, January.
    19. Nick Pidgeon, 2012. "Climate Change Risk Perception and Communication: Addressing a Critical Moment?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 951-956, June.
    20. Geert Hofstede, 2006. "What did GLOBE really measure? Researchers’ minds versus respondents’ minds," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 882-896, November.
    21. Richard C. Stedman, 2004. "Risk and Climate Change: Perceptions of Key Policy Actors in Canada," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 1395-1406, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shiwei Fan & Lan Xue & Jianhua Xu, 2018. "What Drives Policy Attention to Climate Change in China? An Empirical Analysis through the Lens of People’s Daily," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Savio Dimatteo & Joe Schauld & Pei-Shan Yi & Mirco Musolesi, 2017. "Tweeting About Sustainability: Can Emotional Nowcasting Discourage Greenwashing?," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2017-02, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Mike S. Schäfer & James Painter, 2021. "Climate journalism in a changing media ecosystem: Assessing the production of climate change‐related news around the world," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), January.
    4. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Faugère, Christophe & Gergaud, Olivier & Preuss, Lutz, 2020. "Media attention to large-scale corporate scandals: Hype and boredom in the age of social media," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 385-398.
    5. Myanna Lahsen & Gabriela de Azevedo Couto & Irene Lorenzoni, 2020. "When climate change is not blamed: the politics of disaster attribution in international perspective," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 213-233, January.
    6. Ralf Barkemeyer & Philippe Givry & Frank Figge, 2018. "Trends and patterns in sustainability-related media coverage: A classification of issue-level attention," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(5), pages 937-962, August.
    7. La Torre, Mario & Leo, Sabrina & Palma, Alessia & Zapata, Jenny Daniela Salazar, 2024. "Public spending and green finance: A systematic literature review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Svatava Janoušková & Tomáš Hák & Vlastimil Nečas & Bedřich Moldan, 2019. "Sustainable Development—A Poorly Communicated Concept by Mass Media. Another Challenge for SDGs?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Galina Williams, 2023. "Temporal Stability of Attitudes towards Climate Change and Willingness to Pay for the Emissions Reduction Options in Queensland, Australia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Astrid Artner-Nehls & Sandra Uthes & Jana Zscheischler & Peter H. Feindt, 2022. "How the Agricultural Press Addresses the Slurry–Water Nexus: A Text Mining Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tobias Steindl, 2021. "Cultural rule orientation, legal institutions, and the credibility of corporate social responsibility reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 310-332, January.
    2. Nicholas Smith & Anthony Leiserowitz, 2014. "The Role of Emotion in Global Warming Policy Support and Opposition," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(5), pages 937-948, May.
    3. Labidi, Chiraz & Laribi, Dorra & Ureche-Rangau, Loredana, 2021. "National culture and socially responsible fund flows," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    4. Luzzati, T. & Orsini, M., 2009. "Investigating the energy-environmental Kuznets curve," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 291-300.
    5. Erkko Autio & Saurav Pathak & Karl Wennberg, 2013. "Consequences of cultural practices for entrepreneurial behaviors," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(4), pages 334-362, May.
    6. Devleena Chakravarty & Sabuj Kumar Mandal, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for local and global pollutants: application of GMM and random coefficient panel data models," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 21(2), pages 212-233, December.
    7. Michael R. Greenberg & Marc D. Weiner & Robert Noland & Jeanne Herb & Marjorie Kaplan & Anthony J. Broccoli, 2014. "Public Support for Policies to Reduce Risk After Hurricane Sandy," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(6), pages 997-1012, June.
    8. Pisani, Niccolò & Kourula, Arno & Kolk, Ans & Meijer, Renske, 2017. "How global is international CSR research? Insights and recommendations from a systematic review," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 591-614.
    9. Atwi, Majed & Barberán, Ramón & Mur, Jesús & Angulo, Ana, 2018. "CO2 Kuznets Curve Revisited: From Cross-Sections to Panel Data Models," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 40, pages 169-196.
    10. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin & Sun, Chia-Hung, 2010. "The environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for water pollution: Do regions matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 12-23, January.
    11. Zilio, Mariana & Recalde, Marina, 2011. "GDP and environment pressure: The role of energy in Latin America and the Caribbean," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7941-7949.
    12. Xiangyu Chen & Peng Wan, 2020. "Social trust and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 485-500, March.
    13. Lisa Gianmoena & Vicente Rios, 2018. "The Determinants of CO2 Emissions Differentials with Cross-Country Interaction Effects: A Dynamic Spatial Panel Data Bayesian Model Averaging Approach," Discussion Papers 2018/234, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    14. Ahmad, Ashfaq & Zhao, Yuhuan & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Bano, Sadia & Zhang, Zhonghua & Wang, Song & Liu, Ya, 2016. "Carbon emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: An aggregate and disaggregate analysis of the Indian economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 131-143.
    15. Halkos, George, 2011. "Economy - environment relationship: The case of sulphur emissions," MPRA Paper 45480, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Cheung, Yan-Leung & Tan, Weiqiang & Wang, Wenming, 2020. "Where do banks value corporate social responsibility more? Evidence on the role of national culture," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    17. Rabeh Khalfaoui & Aviral Kumar Tiwari & Usman Khalid & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2023. "Nexus between carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth in G7 countries: fresh insights via wavelet coherence analysis," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(1), pages 31-66, January.
    18. Kacprzyk, Andrzej & Kuchta, Zbigniew, 2020. "Shining a new light on the environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    19. Muhammad Shahbaz & Avik Sinha, 2019. "Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2emissions: a literature survey," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 106-168, January.
    20. Audi, Marc & Ali, Amjad, 2018. "Determinants of Environmental Degradation under the Perspective of Globalization: A Panel Analysis of Selected MENA Nations," MPRA Paper 85776, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:35:y:2017:i:6:p:1029-1054. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.