The Competition to Establish the Dominant Framing of Climate Change Among Journalists, Ministers and Political Advisors
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Game of frames: the competition to establish the dominant framing of climate change among journalists, ministers and political advisors David Robbins, BA, MA School of Communications Dublin City University Thesis supervisors: Prof Pat Brereton Dr John O’Sullivan Thesis submitted in part fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) October 2017 ii I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of ........................... (insert title of degree for which registered) is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ____________ (Candidate) ID No.: ___________ Date: _______ iii iv Acknowledgements Hillary Clinton famously said that “it takes a village” to raise a child. It might not take that many to complete a PhD thesis, but it certainly takes more than one. In my case, it took the inhabitants of a small hamlet. Firstly, I would like to thank my wife Fran for her loving support and for her peerless editing skills, for keeping the home fires burning while I burned the midnight oil. Next, I must thank my daughter Grace, who grew into a young woman while I worked on this research, for her good humour, hugs and tickles, as well as the multi-coloured loom band that was my “lucky PhD bracelet”. The support from colleagues and friends at DCU was invaluable in keeping me sane. First among these is fellow PhD voyager Dawn Wheatley, who was a great mate during the research and writing phases. Her companionship, Nvivo and Excel skills, and ability to feign interest in media coverage of climate change were invaluable. Dr Aileen O’Driscoll, Dr Stephen Dunne and Dr Diarmuid Torney all provided very welcome support and advice. I am very deeply indebted to my supervisor, Prof Pat Brereton, whose enthusiasm and expertise have guided me from the outset. Pat has been a valued friend and mentor, and his collegiality and generosity have meant a great deal. I have also benefited enormously from the advice and feedback of my secondary supervisor, Dr John O’Sullivan. Finally, I wish to thank my interview subjects, who gave so openly of their time and so freely of their views. This work is so much the richer for your contributions. v vi Dedication This work is dedicated to my wife Fran and my daughter Grace. To Fran, thank you for your support, and your belief in this project. To Grace, thank you for helping me keep it in perspective. “Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four, 1890. vii viii Table of contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... V DEDICATION ....................................................................................................................... VII TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ IX LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. XV LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. XVII ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ XIX CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 THE SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT .......................................................................................................... 5 1.3 THE POLICY CONTEXT ............................................................................................................... 8 1.4 THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT .......................................................................................... 9 1.5 THE MEDIA CONTEXT ............................................................................................................. 12 1.6 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ............................................... 14 1.7 THE PERSPECTIVES OF PRACTITIONER SCHOLARS ......................................................................... 16 1.8 ORGANISATION OF THESIS ...................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 2 .......................................................................................................................... 22 THE MEDIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................... 22 2.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING AND ANALYSING THE MEDIA ................................. 25 2.3 STUDYING MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE: SURVEYING THE ACADEMIC FIELD ....................... 31 2.4 MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE – MEASURING ATTENTION, ACCURACY AND SCEPTICS ............ 34 2.5 CONCERNS OVER THE COMMUNICATION OF SCIENCE AND JOURNALISTIC ACCURACY .......................... 36 2.6 THE INFLUENCE OF PROFESSIONAL NORMS ................................................................................ 39 2.7 THE EFFECT OF NEWS VALUES ON MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ....................................... 41 2.8 NO TIME, NO MONEY – ECONOMIC PRESSURES AND MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE .............. 44 2.9 WHEN AND WHY MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE RISES AND FALLS ..................................... 45 2.10 THE PRESENCE OF SCEPTIC DISCOURSES IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ......................... 49 2.11 THE INFLUENCE OF CELEBRITIES ON MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE .................................. 53 2.12 VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE MEDIA ................................................... 55 2.13 FRAME ANALYSES OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................... 57 2.14 RESEARCH INTO MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN IRELAND ............................................ 62 2.15 RECENT TRENDS IN MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE SCHOLARSHIP ..................................... 66 2.16 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER 3 .......................................................................................................................... 71 MEDIA EFFECTS AND ISSUE DYNAMICS ................................................................................ 71 3.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 71 3.2 THEORIES OF MEDIA EFFECTS .................................................................................................. 74 3.3 AGENDA-SETTING ................................................................................................................. 75 3.4 SECOND-LEVEL AGENDA SETTING ............................................................................................. 79 3.5 PRIMING ............................................................................................................................. 80 3.6 FRAMING ............................................................................................................................ 82 3.7 THEORIES OF AGENDA SYSTEMS ............................................................................................... 88 3.8 ISSUE ATTENTION CYCLES ........................................................................................................ 90 3.9 PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM .................................................................................................... 94 ix x 3.10 MULTIPLE STREAMS THEORY ................................................................................................ 97 3.11 THE PUBLIC ARENAS MODEL ............................................................................................... 100 3.12 ISSUE CULTURES AND SOCIAL SCARES .................................................................................... 102 3.13 MEDIATED ISSUE DEVELOPMENT ......................................................................................... 105 3.14 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 108 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................. 112 4.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 112 4.2 RESEARCH QUESTION AND GENERAL RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................. 113 4.3 IRELAND AS A CASE-STUDY: FROM THE PARTICULAR TO THE GENERAL ........................................... 116 4.4 TIMEFRAME: WHY THE PERIOD 2007 TO 2016 IS RELEVANT ......................................................