Media and the Climate Crisis

Abstract

Recent years have seen another peak in global media attention to climate change. Driven by increasingly dire news about extreme weather, growing demands of systemic adaption and a new wave political activism, the current situation has increasingly been framed as a climate crisis. This introductory essay maps these recent developments and elaborates the conceptual potentials and limitations of the “crisis” frame. It also briefly reviews the state of the art of media research and situates the contributions of the issue into this landscape.

Polarisation and echo chambers? Making sense of the climate issue with social media in everyday life

“…For instance, Laura, the climate activist, was spiritually awakened by watching Greta Thunberg's speech to the United Nations on YouTube (for a discussion of Thunberg, see Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021):…”

Assuming accuracy, pretending influence? Risks of measuring, monitoring and reporting sustainable development goals

“…These processes are often unpredictable, and dynamics of media, social media and policy debates often cast attention away from early warnings, long-term issues and holistic views of sustainability reporting (EEA 2013 ). As noted in the workshops, despite the attempts of sustainability reporting to highlight long-term processes, framings of acute crisis and short-term risks dominate public debates and construction of risk awareness (Slovic 2000 ; Kunelius and Roosvall 2021 ). Dealing with uncertain long-term risks is difficult for democratic governments with short election cycles and for private sector actors concerned with quarterly reporting.…”

The influence of climate crisis-related media reporting on the eco-anxiety of individuals

“…Several recent studies have discovered a significant rise in global media attention on climate change at the end of the last decade and demonstrate an actual peak in global media attention to climate change (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021). This increased attention is mainly caused by currently observable climatic phenomena that concern nature itself (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021).…”

“…Several recent studies have discovered a significant rise in global media attention on climate change at the end of the last decade and demonstrate an actual peak in global media attention to climate change (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021). This increased attention is mainly caused by currently observable climatic phenomena that concern nature itself (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021). Additionally, several campaigns, a stronger sense of polarization, and the problems of sustainable, longterm decision-making capacity of political systems have contributed a sense of urgency to the public discourse, a discourse that is regularly addressed in media coverage (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021).…”

“…This increased attention is mainly caused by currently observable climatic phenomena that concern nature itself (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021). Additionally, several campaigns, a stronger sense of polarization, and the problems of sustainable, longterm decision-making capacity of political systems have contributed a sense of urgency to the public discourse, a discourse that is regularly addressed in media coverage (Kunelius & Roosvall, 2021).…”