Threat Without Efficacy? Climate Change on U.S. Network News

Hart, P. Sol; Feldman, Lauren

doi:10.1177/1075547013520239

Cited by 160 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The coverage of climate change has been addressed from the perspectives of scientists, journalists and the public [De Lara, 2014], and its framing on television news programmes tends to focus on negative issues and environmental threats [Hart and Feldman, 2014]. Moreover, the low level of coverage of climate change on television news may be related to the scarcity of attractive images available to TV channels [León and Erviti, 2015].…”

Section: Online Video As a Tool To Communicate Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Online video on climate change: a comparison between television and web formats

González¹,

Avilés²,

Revuelta³

2017

JCOM

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This article proposes a classification of the current differences between online videos produced specifically for television and online videos produced for the Internet, based on online audiovisual production on climate change. The classification, which consists of 18 formats divided into two groups that allow comparisons to be made between television and web formats, was created through the quantitative and qualitative content analysis of a sample of 300 videos. The findings show that online video's capacity to generate visits is greater when it has been designed to be broadcast on the Internet than when produced for television. AbstractEnvironmental communication; Public perception of science and technology; Public understanding of science and technology; Science and media Keywords

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Section: Online Video As a Tool To Communicate Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Online video on climate change: a comparison between television and web formats

González¹,

Avilés²,

Revuelta³

2017

JCOM

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“…Previous knowledge and political ideology are also likely to interact with systematic differences 12 in how climate change is presented in different types of news story. Reporting in political news stories is more likely to engage in 'false balance' , in which climate skeptics are provided equal time with individuals offering the scientific consensus on climate change, which results in an over-representation of contrasting 'inaccurate' information [22][23][24] .…”

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confidence: 96%

Public attention to science and political news and support for climate change mitigation

2015

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We examine how attention to science and political news may influence public knowledge, perceived harm, and support for climate mitigation policies. Previous research examining these relationships 1,2 has not fully accounted for how political ideology shapes the mental processes through which the public interprets media discourses about climate change. We incorporate political ideology and the concept of motivated cognition into our analysis to compare and contrast two prominent models of opinion formation, the scientific literacy model 3-5 , which posits that disseminating scientific information will move public opinion towards the scientific consensus, and the motivated reasoning model 6,7 , which posits that individuals will interpret information in a biased manner. Our analysis finds support for both models of opinion formation with key di erences across ideological groups. Attention to science news was associated with greater perceptions of harm and knowledge for conservatives, but only additional knowledge for liberals. Supporting the literacy model, greater knowledge was associated with more support for climate mitigation for liberals. In contrast, consistent with motivated reasoning, more knowledgeable conservatives were less supportive of mitigation policy. In addition, attention to political news had a negative association with perceived harm for conservatives but not for liberals.The scientific community now recognizes that global climate change is primarily caused by human activities and is already having significant negative impacts 8 . Despite this link, less than half of Americans believe anthropogenic climate change is occurring and it continually ranks at the bottom of national priorities 9 . In light of this discrepancy, scholars have examined, in part, how attention to these news stories may influence relevant attitudes and beliefs 1 . However, individuals often selectively view and interpret information in ways that reinforce previously held beliefs 10,11 . Thus, more information about climate change in the public sphere has the potential to amplify, rather than attenuate, public polarization and to fail to motivate public action on the issue 12 .The selective interpretation of factual information has raised challenges to a model of science communication often termed the scientific literacy model. Within the literacy model, increasing scientific literacy by disseminating of factually accurate scientific information through formal (for example, schools) and informal (for example, mass media) channels will move public opinion towards consensus scientific perspectives, and help promote public support in line with scientific views of societal issues such as global climate change 3-5 .In contrast, the motivated reasoning model posits that individuals 'work backwards' and process information in a biased manner to reach conclusions consistent with previously held beliefs 6 . People do not approach evidence and arguments about controversial issues in a purely rational, even-handed manner 7 . Instead, a...

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“…Similarly, if people do not consider the suggested strategies to be effective measures (response efficacy), they may not decide to take action either (Witte, 1992). As Hart and Feldman (2014) suggest, threat information may not be effective in engaging the public without clear information related to efficacy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%