View metadata, citation and similarbrought COREpapers to youat core.ac.ukby provided by Bern Open Repository and Information System (BORIS) Do conservative media provide a forum for skeptical voices? The link between ideology and the coverage of climate change in British, German, and Swiss newspapers Hannah Schmid-Petri University of Bern Institute of Communication and Media Studies Fabrikstrasse 8 3012 Bern, Switzerland email:
[email protected], phone: +41-(0)31-631-3847 Funding: This publication was created in the context of the Research Unit “Political Communication in the Online World” (1381), subproject 7, which is funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation. The subproject is also funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF, 100017E-135915). Abstract: This study analyzes whether the ideological orientation of a newspaper has an influence on the salience of skeptical arguments (trend, attribution, impact, and response skeptics) in the coverage of climate change in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland, and examines whether certain newspaper titles act as advocates of the skeptical countermovement. A quantitative content analysis of a broad newspaper sample for each country over the course of one year (June 2012–May 2013) was conducted. The results reveal that conservative newspapers do not amplify skeptical voices in general; the difference between conservative and more liberal outlets is only found in the case of impact and response skepticism. Second, in each country, certain conservative newspapers are particularly