How Constructive News Outlets Reported the Synergistic Effects of Climate Change and Covid-19 Through Metaphors

Abstract

COVID-19 has provoked fears that the heavy reporting of pandemic developments may cause climate change to slip from public attention. Views have also converged that the focus should be on the positive lessons of COVID-19 for addressing climate change. This paper examined Guardian Online and Positive News to identify examples of good practice in reporting the synergistic effects of climate change and COVID-19, as both are committed to covering climate change and practice solutions-oriented constructive journalism that provides context by explaining relations between issues. The study sought to identify the types of synergistic effects that were reported and how they were reported through metaphors-key conceptualisation tools. Analysis of 153 news articles published in the first year of the pandemic showed that the coverage of synergistic effects was solutions-oriented and synergistic effects were discussed mainly through Movement and Colour metaphors-particularly the colour Green. War metaphors which have dominated reporting when climate change and COVID-19 have been discussed separately were rare. Reliance on Movement and Colour metaphors can be interpreted as a positive practice, as Movement metaphors are familiar, vivid and more flexible than War metaphors, while Green metaphors are closely associated with environmentalism and have positive connotations.

Public narratives of the relationship between post-pandemic economic recovery and decarbonization: A case study of Toronto’s media sphere

“…For example, a recent analysis of Swiss news media and Twitter data found that, during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, it dominated up to 70% of media coverage, transforming the routine issue of climate change into a struggling issue with a lower baseline of media attention (Rauchfleisch et al, 2023). Echoing this finding, Atanasova (2022) calls for more solution-oriented journalism practice addressing the synergistic effects of climate change and COVID-19.…”

“…Disconcertingly, both the post-Paris trajectory of climate policy and the media coverage of climate change have been eclipsed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s vast dominance of public discourse since early 2020. On news outlets and social media, the pandemic has appeared as a critical event diverting public attention from the emergency of climate change (Atanasova, 2022; Rauchfleisch et al, 2023; Stoddart et al, 2023). For example, a recent analysis of Swiss news media and Twitter data found that, during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, it dominated up to 70% of media coverage, transforming the routine issue of climate change into a struggling issue with a lower baseline of media attention (Rauchfleisch et al, 2023).…”

“…Since the initial global outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, numerous climate hazards (e.g., heatwaves, floods, wildfires) have collided with the government’s pandemic responses. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic’s unprecedented scope and severity have captured the lion’s share of global media attention and overshadowed public reckoning with the climate crisis (Atanasova, 2022; Rauchfleisch et al, 2023; Stoddart et al, 2023). This temporary decline of public attention to climate change, however, contradicts the intensifying climate emergency worldwide.…”

Reporting civilizational collapse: Research notes from a world-in-crisis

“…A quick summary review, for example, of seven of the field's leading journals' article titles and abstracts (Media, Culture and Society, European Journal of Communication, International Journal of Communication, Global Media and Communication, Journalism Studies, Journalism: Theory, Practice, Criticism and Journalism Practice) found that of 2633 articles published across 3 years and 4 months (January 2019-April 2022), only 13 (0.4%) raised the compound nature of global crises or made reference to these at world or planetary level. Articles about single issues/crises, (COVID (35, 1.3%), asylum seeking and migrancy (35, 1.3%), climate change (19, 0.7%), and weather-related disasters (11, 0.4%)), invariably focused on media framing or media affordances and processes of media production in specific countries, but did not situate or seek to theorize these in global, world or planetary context (exceptionally, see : Atanasova, 2022;Borth et al, 2022;Cottle, 2019;Gutsche Jr and Pinto, 2022;Robertson and Schaetz, 2022). Studies of media and food, water and energy insecurity, biodiversity loss, the sixth mass extinction, population growth as well as weapons of mass annihilation were notable by their complete absence.…”