Normative Framing and Public Attitudes toward Biofuels Policies

Although the power of elite issue frames to shape public attitudes toward different policies is well established, the relative influence of different types of frames in competitive framing environments remains uncertain. For example, we do not fully understand the relative influence of economic versus normative frames on the public's policy attitudes, despite the common use of both types of frames to promote the same policy in many settings. Using data from a 2010 national Internet survey, this paper investigates the relative influence of economic versus normative frames on public attitudes toward the contentious policy issue of biofuels. The results indicate the importance of normative frames in shaping public attitudes on this issue, suggesting the relevance of normative frames more generally in shaping public opinion beyond the narrow confines of typical “morality” policies such as abortion or gambling.     

Environment as Politics: Framing the Cerattepe Protest in Twitter

Environmental protests across the globe are often studied with a particular focus on their environmental aspects, but these protests are also embedded in a local political setting shaped by governmental policies. Recent environmental protests in Turkey, which appear to be based on ecological grievances, have developed as a response to political decisions that gave priority to economic development and national interests over environmental concerns. This study examines the political character of the environmental protest in Cerattepe, and focuses on the framing practices of its players in order to see if their motivations transcended environmental concerns. The research combines framing with network analysis, and studies the propagation of frames through Twitter. It has been found that the political economic aspects became predominant in the protest network, while the frames fostered dense connections between activist groups.     

Developments in the Framing of Climate Change as a Public Health Issue in US Newspapers

News media are major channels for the transmission of information to the public and deliver news about the latest developments regarding health issues such as climate change. How the media frame such information may enhance public understanding and enable appropriate responses by individuals and communities. This study follows up on previous research examining media portrayals of climate change in US newspapers from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2008. Here, we content analyze 270 news stories on climate change as a public health issue from five US newspapers between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2012. Findings indicate that the total number of articles about climate change declined while emphasis on the public health dimension of climate change increased. The types of generic news frames (i.e., dramatic/substantive) most frequently used did not considerably change across the two time periods, however. To explain this, we discuss ways in which people may assess and spark change in news framing of public issues to better reach and influence a range of audiences.     

A Phenomenological Perspective on Ethical Duty in Environmental Communication

This article examines the framing of environmental risks and natural disasters in factual entertainment television programs of the early 2000s, a hybrid form combining techniques from documentary with techniques such as dramatic reconstructions and computer-generated imagery from entertainment genres. Using qualitative frame analysis, it examines a range of factual entertainment television programs' framing of environmental risk and natural disasters in terms of their attitudes, representation of human participants and visual composition. The article considers the similarities and differences in the framing of natural disasters as factual entertainment compared to the framing of natural disasters in news, documentary and fiction film. It argues that such programs offer representational frames both consonant with and distinct from other media and concludes that they problematically offer a predominantly fatalistic response to environmental risk, constructing natural disasters as voyeuristic spectacles for vicarious entertainment.     

Developing Communication Strategies for Mitigating Actions Against Global Warming: Linking Framing and a Dual Processing Model

Although there is increasing public awareness of global warming, there is a gap between such perception and relevant actions to combat the problem. In order to develop effective strategies for facilitating public actions, in this paper we draw upon framing theory and a dual processing model. Based on an experiment involving 261 participants from a large public university in Taiwan, this study found that by framing global warming as a local issue, communication messages can trigger both analytic (issue relevance) and affective (negative emotions) appraisals, which, in turn, will increase people's intentions to take actions. This study provides important insights for government and environmental groups when designing communication campaigns on this issue.     

Internet Memes,Media Frames,and the Conflicting Logics of Climate Change Discourse

ABSTRACT

Media frames have been applied to news information for decades to influence the manner in which news is both delivered and interpreted. However, media frames have tended to focus on traditional news media channels, but the emergence of new media platforms now necessitates a recalibration of how media framing is understood in relation to media and communication studies. With a focus on the issue of climate change, this study explores how framing is employed by the phenomenon of Internet memes in the new media landscape. Specifically, memes presented demonstrate the representation of five common media frames from the perspectives of both the “convinced” and “skeptical” logics. It is argued that through the use of common meme templates combined with the typical humorous or ironic message they convey, Internet memes represent a potentially powerful form of socio-political participation in the online community.     

Greenwashing Consumption: The Didactic Framing of ExxonMobil's Energy Solutions

Corporate advertising campaigns increasingly use environmental frames to promote their products and processes, many of which are neither sustainable nor environmentally friendly. This study examines ExxonMobil's recent efforts at green advertising, focusing specifically on their widely aired “Energy Solutions” television advertisements. We argue that ExxonMobil's use of a didactic, greenwashed frame stifles criticism and discourages examination of ideologies of consumption by exploiting the ethos of the scientist and highlighting technological solutions to problems that are deeply tied to a culture of consumerism. The definition of green energy is controlled by those with the power to generate persuasive public messages about the sources and production of energy. Counterframes, however, can be employed to turn a questioning eye upon the solutions advanced by ExxonMobil. We issue a call for green frames that help citizens and consumers critically examine the ecological integrity of all means of energy production, and that call attention to the ways in which the greenwashing of research and development initiatives can dissuade necessary action, including reduction of US energy consumption.     

Using Nonprofit Narratives and News Media Framing to Depict Air Pollution in Delhi,India

How is the air pollution issue in Delhi framed by the news media and narrated by nonprofit organizations? To study news media framing, we employed an inductive approach based on automated text coding of news coverage of the issue. To study nonprofit organization narrations, a deductive approach guided by the Narrative Policy Framework was used to focus on the stories told via online documents as found on nonprofit websites. The findings confirm existing theory and empirical research regarding the leading causes and effects of air pollution; however, perceptions are mixed regarding the government’s ability to implement policy. The combined deductive and inductive approaches provide a systematic and multi-method research study for understanding perceptions of air pollution in one of the largest cities in the world. The result is a depiction of the priorities that influence public opinions, political decisions, and eventually public policies.     

Selling “Fracking”: Energy in Depth and the Marcellus Shale

The development of horizontal hydraulic fracture drilling or “fracking” has allowed for the extraction of deep, unconventional shale gas deposits in various shale seams throughout the USA. One such shale seam, the Marcellus shale, extends through New York State, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, where shale gas development has rapidly increased within the last decade. This has created a boom of economic activity surrounding the energy industry. However, this bounty comes with risks to environmental and public health and has led to divisive community polarization over the issue in the Marcellus shale region. In the face of potential environmental and social disruption, and a great deal of controversy surrounding “fracking” the oil and gas industry has had to undertake a myriad of public relations initiatives to legitimize their extraction efforts in the Marcellus shale region, and to frame the shale gas boom in a positive light to stakeholders. This article investigates one such public relations initiative, the Energy in Depth (EID) Northeast Marcellus Initiative. Through qualitative content analysis of EID's online web material, this article examines the ways in which the industry presents and frames natural gas development to the general public. Through appeals to patriotism, the use of environmental imagery, and a claimed commitment to scientific reason, the oil and gas industry uses EID to frame the shale gas extraction process in a positive light, all the while framing those who question or oppose the processes of shale gas extraction as irrational obstructionists.     

Questioning the Doubt: Climate Skepticism in German Newspaper Reporting on COP17

Despite numerous international studies on climate change, there is skepticism in the media and it is prominent in public opinion polls. This article focuses in particular on the framing of climate skepticism in Germany, a country that, in the main, is said to be convinced about climate change. By using a two-step content analysis of 379 news articles (print and online) we demonstrate that climate skepticism is present in German news media reporting on the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa. We identify two overarching skepticism frames: skepticism about the phenomenon of climate change and about climate science. Our analysis further shows that climate skepticism is not exclusive to a specific political ideology, even though a newspaper's ideology may influence how skeptical frames are being evaluated.     

Global Climate Talks from Failure to Cooperation and Hope: Swedish News Framings of COP15 and COP21

The purpose of this study is to offer an analysis of how two UN Conferences of Parties, COP15 in Copenhagen 2009 and COP21 in Paris 2015, were covered and debated in Swedish newspapers. Two national and two regional newspapers were selected for the study, and a qualitative frame analysis was conducted on 309 articles. A typology of frames applicable to science-related policy and climate change debates was used and its relevance for global climate summit context was discussed. Having territory in the Arctic region, indigenous populations affected by climate change measures, and political and public sensitivity to environmental issues, the climate debate has particular significance in the Swedish case. Findings indicate a trust in the role of national and supra-national governance to address climate change problems, but also that newspapers in Sweden maintained a focus on the global aspects of the two meetings, rather than framing them as surrogate battlefields for domestic politics.     

From Frames to Resonance Machines: The Neuropolitics of Environmental Communication

George Lakoff 's work in cognitive linguistics has prompted a surge in social scientists’ interest in the cognitive and neuropsychological dimensions of political discourse. Bringing cognitive neuroscience into the study of social movements and of environmental communication, however, is not as straightforward as Lakoff 's followers suggest. Examining and comparing Lakoff's “neuropolitics” with those of political theorist William E. Connolly, this article argues that Connolly's writings on evangelical-capitalist and eco-egalitarian “resonance machines” provide a broader model for thinking about the relations between body, brain, and culture. Environmentalists, it concludes, should pluralize their “frames” and pay greater attention to the micropolitical and affective effects of their language and practices on the communities within which they act, communicate, and dwell.     

Framing of Geoengineering Affects Support for Climate Change Mitigation

The growing recognition that climate change mitigation alone will be inadequate has led scientists and policymakers to discuss climate geoengineering. An experiment with a US sample found, contrary to previous research, that reading about geoengineering did not reduce conservatives’ skepticism about the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Moreover, depending on how it is framed, geoengineering can reduce support for mitigation among both conservatives and non-conservatives. When geoengineering is framed as a major solution, people worry less about climate change, leading to reduced mitigation support. When framed as disastrous, people perceived geoengineering as riskier, also leading to a decrease in mitigation support. A more moderate framing of geoengineering as a partial solution is less susceptible to moral hazard effects. Overall, results suggest that geoengineering will not lessen political polarization over anthropogenic climate change, and could undercut support for mitigation efforts. Instead, framing geoengineering as a small piece to solving a big puzzle seems to be the best strategy to weaken this potential moral hazard.     

Optimizing Messaging to Reduce Red Meat Consumption

Red meat production has a range of negative environmental impacts. We sought to characterize the motivations, environmental attitudes and demographics of red meat-eaters, and examine the effect of message framing in reducing future meat consumption. Canadian adult meat-eaters (593) completed a survey and were randomly assigned to one of six message treatments that presented information on the environmental impacts of meat production using frames representing social norms and/or place identity constructs. Taste and quality were the most important motivators for eating meat, while moral/ethical factors were the least. Forty-nine percent of respondents indicated they would reduce red meat intake after exposure to an information only message, while the social norms frame was more effective than others (χ2). Awareness of the environmental effects increased significantly after messaging for all 13 impacts. These findings should assist communicators with designing more effective messaging aimed at encouraging pro-environmental behaviours associated with meat consumption.     

Strategic Framing of Climate Change by Industry Actors: A Meta-analysis

This study uses framing theory to analyze 38 studies on industry actors' climate change communication between 1990 and 2010. It identifies three consecutive phases, each characterized by one dominant master frame: in the early and mid-1990s the US fossil fuel and coal industry pushed the frame of scientific uncertainty. With the rundown to the Kyoto negotiations in 1997, the strategy shifted toward the socioeconomic consequences of mandatory emission reductions, particularly in the USA and Australia. At the same time, European industry actors started to promote industrial leadership in a climate protection, which today dominates across all the world regions. The study discusses potential triggers for the regional differences as well as the implications for further research.     

Quoting “the Environment”: Touchstones on Earth

Media influence public awareness through agenda setting and framing of news by selecting what is published, how frequently and through what frames. This content analysis compares portrayals of climate change based on political ideology of the media. It examines daily coverage of climate change in Santiago, Chile by the conservative, El Mercurio, newspaper, and the liberal, La Nación. Twenty percent of the 1,628 articles published in 2003, 2005, and 2007 which included the words “cambio climático” (climate change) or “calentamiento global” (global warming) were analyzed for frequency, content, images, and frames. The liberal newspaper published twice as many articles that were twice as long, with four times as many illustrations about climate change. They presented more thematic and diverse frames than the conservative newspaper. Government sources and conflict frames dominated both newspapers, reflecting some similar maturation processes of climate change coverage found in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere.     

The Representation of Biofuels in Political Cartoons: Ironies,Contradictions and Moral Dilemmas

Biofuels are an important component in the suite of renewable energy alternatives but their development trajectory has been fraught with controversy. This study investigated the representation of biofuels in political cartoons on the Internet. Political cartoons have relied on informative, persuasive, and performative attributes to engender critical reflection and mobilize action. We analyzed a corpus of 130 relevant cartoons obtained through Google Images which were then thematically categorized. The problems highlighted in these cartoons focused on the social injustices arising from the diversion of food sources to fuel, the environmental destruction arising from deforestation, the unfulfilled expectations for climate change mitigation, and the policy contradictions that emerged. We suggest that political cartoons’ discursive dimensions allow us to make immediate connections between the image and our cultural stores of meaning, while at the same time further elucidate the dilemmas and contradictions embedded in the public's interface with biofuels as an environmental issue.     

Writing about Everyday Beauty: Anthropomorphizing and Distancing as Literary Practices

In this paper two ways to communicate a relation to one's everyday life environment are discussed: anthropomorphizing and distancing. Both are often thought to convey hierarchically anthropocentric relations to nature and as such to be undesired. The basis of this paper is empirical research conducted in a small northern Finnish village. Four villagers participated in writing letters about beauty in their everyday lives. In this paper the letters of two participants are discussed in detail. I conclude that anthropomorphism and distancing serve as literary practices of negotiating a meaningful relation to one's everyday life environment by conceptually framing the interplay of one's perceived proximity to and distance from the not-her.     

Beyond the money shot; or how framing nature matters? Locating Green at Wildscreen

ABSTRACT

Natural history films use technological mediations to frame aspects of nature so as to communicate information, in part through engendering particular viewer affects. As an entertainment industry embedded in capitalist social relations and concerned with competition for finance and ratings, natural history film-making is also a search for “the money shot” – associated with extremes including rarity, sensational behavior, and otherwise un(fore)seen views. I highlight this sensationalizing impetus through ethnographic fieldwork conducted at the biannual UK Wildscreen film festival in 2010. Here, wildlife films were frequently presented as action dramas with a rhythm of anticipation, climax and satisfaction. I argue that, through stimulating significantly disconnective affects, such framing may work against composition of a caring ecocultural ethics that entwines human with more-than-human natures and futures; and that this tendency parallels the similarly disconnecting effects documented for pornographic film. In contrast, I engage with the differently constructive frames guiding the low budget, open access, activist film Green, which, perhaps paradoxically given the thrust of much of the natural history film industry, won the prestigious WWF Gold Panda Award at Wildscreen 2010. I follow framing theorist George Lakoff to emphasize that since cognition is both embodied and embedded in diverse inter-relationships, affective registers generating mimetic connection are as significant in communicating information regarding “the environment” as the text and words by which nature might be framed. I conclude that attention to affective registers and embodied (dis)connections in natural history film may enhance a turning of capitalist spectacle against itself, so as to work more effectively in service to the composition of abundant socionatural futures.     

Mediating the Science: Symbolic and Structural Influences on Communicating Climate Change Through New Zealand's Television News

Climate change presents scientists, politicians, and media producers with a challenge of articulating to diverse stakeholders both the complexity of issues and the urgency of action. Analyses of how climate change is represented and constructed in broadcast media are useful to capture a reflection of contemporary values. We use an analysis of news frames and production values as well as a limited “circuit of culture” approach to explore climate change communication as both a news product and cultural phenomenon. Our focus is New Zealand, a country which ratified the Kyoto agreement but which is currently noncompliant. Using qualitative framing analysis and in-depth interviews with leading media producers, politicians, and scientists, we examine how climate change is produced, represented, and consumed by New Zealanders via their broadcast media.