A State of Emergency or Business as Usual in Climate Science Communication? A Three-Dimensional Perspective on the Role Perceptions of Climate Scientists, Climate Journalists, and Citizens

Abstract

Building on post-normal science, Brüggemann et al. (2020) suggest that the uncertain, disputed, high-stakes, and urgent character of the climate challenge facing modern societies may alter the conventional notion of what is expected of scientists, journalists, and citizens in the public discussion of climate science. This article examines this notion via 15 focus groups with climate scientists, climate journalists, and citizens ( N = 76). The analysis shows that neither of the three actors want climate scientists and climate journalists to act as advocates. However, interestingly, it is seen as legitimate for climate scientists to express emotions connected to their findings.

Differentiated Trust Strategies and Rebellious Acceptance: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the Trust Strategies Used by Scientist Communicators and Citizen Science Communicators in Chinese Online Climate Communication

“…In addition, when rational scientific knowledge is combined with perceptual emotional arousal, it seems that audiences are more inclined to trust scientists in climate communication on Zhihu. This finding is consistent with Nicolaisen’s (2022) conclusion that in climate communication, public audiences expect scientist communicators to have a certain degree of emotional expression combined with their professional knowledge presentation.…”

“…Studies have also found that audiences have different trust preferences and expectations when facing communicators with different identities (Jin, 2018; Seebauer & Babcicky, 2018; Yang, 2022b). For example, Nicolaisen (2022) found that in climate science communication, when scientists are communicators, the public expects them to have a certain degree of emotional expression, that is, greater use of emotional discourse strategies; in terms of climate journalists as communicators, the public trusts them more when they demonstrate a neutral attitude. Fiske and Dupree (2014) summarized this as follows: the audience may have different preferences for “warm scientific content” and “more informative scientific content” in different contexts during the acceptance process of scientific communication, which has been described as “warmth” and “competence.” In different communication contexts, as Lucas and colleagues (2015) note, “social identity is a good predictor of personal belief, particularly on controversial issues” (p. 83).…”

Orchestrating the climate choir: the boundaries of scientists’ expertise, the relevance of experiential knowledge, and quality assurance in the public climate debate

“…This study is based on 15 focus groups composed of different constellations of Danish climate scientists, climate journalists, and citizens (the same data has been used to produce another research article focusing on these actors' role perceptions (Nicolaisen 2022)). This method was chosen as it accords with the study's interest in group-level perceptions.…”

Implicaciones profesionales y estratégicas del periodismo activista: un estudio de caso en el contexto de las radiotelevisiones públicas de proximidad

“…Asimismo, merece la pena advertir cómo dentro del concepto de periodismo activista, el cambio climático ha comenzado a señalarse como un elemento disruptor que, se prevé, demandará cada vez más una opción de periodismo comprometido, en especial, dentro del marco de la profesionalidad (Fernández-Reyes, 2010). No en vano, la comunicación con una inclinación hacia la defensa de derechos o la denuncia de injusticias puede contextualizar problemáticas como el cambio climático en un marco holístico que estimule la acción informada y movilice a la sociedad para hacer frente a crisis globales, como la ecológica (Nicolaisen, 2022). A este respecto, se ha señalado la necesidad de que los/las periodistas encargados/as de coberturas vinculadas al cambio climático asuman un papel más activista debido al carácter "post-normal" de la cuestión climática (Krauss et al, 2012).…”