Quality journalism and advocacy in raising climate awarenessThe case of The Guardian

  1. LOLA BAÑON-CASTELLÓN
  2. ESMA KUCUKALIC-IBRAHIMOVIC
Revista:
Catalan journal of communication & cultural studies

ISSN: 1757-1898

Any de publicació: 2023

Volum: 15

Número: 2

Pàgines: 171-196

Tipus: Article

DOI: 10.1386/CJCS_00087_1 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Altres publicacions en: Catalan journal of communication & cultural studies

Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible

Resum

The Anthropocene era describes human activity as the decisive factor in creating environmental imbalance on the planet. This emergency is intensifying the need for journalism to raise readers’ awareness about the climate crisis. This study concentrates on the coverage generated by the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27). Using a mixed quantitative and qualitative method, The Guardian’s international digital version was analysed to find out the scope of journalistic quality on the climate issue, applying the variables accredited with the Journalistic Value Added (JVA) analysis technique to the sample (N = 238). The results show that the editorial policy of commitment to the climate emergency taken on by The Guardian coincides with essential criteria of quality journalism, making the medium a point of reference, although misproportion still persist such as gender representation among the sources.

Referències bibliogràfiques

  • Acosta-Valdés, M., Marrero-Santana, L. and Ramírez-Céspedes, Z. (2011), ‘Information organization on newspaper web sites’, El Profesional de la Información, 20:1, pp. 54–60, https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2011.ene.07. [Google Scholar]
  • Alessandri, F., Edwards, C., Pellegrini, S., Porath, W., Puente, S., Rozas, E. and Saavedra, G. (2001), ‘VAP: un sistema métrico de la calidad periodística’, Cuadernos.Info, 14, pp. 112–20, https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.14.187. [Google Scholar]
  • Alexiades, M. (2018), ‘La antropología ambiental: una visión desde el Antropoceno’, in B. Santamarina and O. Beltrán (eds), Antropología Ambiental: Conocimientos y Prácticas Locales a las Puertas del Antropoceno, Barcelona: Icaria, pp. 7–70. [Google Scholar]
  • Anon. (2019), ‘The Guardian’s environmental pledge’, The Guardian, 15 October, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/oct/16/the-guardians-climate-pledge-2019. Accessed 22 October 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Anon. (2021), ‘The climate emergency is here: The media needs to act like it’, The Guardian, 12 April, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/12/covering-climate-now-guardian-climate-emergency. Accessed 22 October 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Anon. (2022), ‘The Guardian view on COP27: This is no time for apathy or complacency’, The Guardian, 15 November, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/15/the-guardian-view-on-cop27-this-is-no-time-for-apathy-or-complacency. Accessed 22 October 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Bachmann, P., Eisenegger, M. and Ingenhoff, D. (2021), ‘Defining and measuring news media quality: Comparing the content perspective and the audience perspective’, The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27:1, pp. 9–37, https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161221999666. [Google Scholar]
  • Barkemeyer, R., Figge, F., Hoepner, A., Holt, D., Kraak, J. M. and Yu, P. S. (2017), ‘Media coverage of climate change: An international comparison’, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 35:6, pp. 1029–54, https://doi.org/10.1177/0263774X16680818. [Google Scholar]
  • Bohr, J. (2020), ‘Reporting on climate change: A computational analysis of US newspapers and sources of bias, 1997–2017’, Global Environmental Change, 61, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102038. [Google Scholar]
  • Borrat, H. (1989), ‘Aportes de la periodística a la política’, Periodística: Revista acadèmica, 1, pp. 59–77, https://raco.cat/index.php/Periodistica/article/view/245669. Accessed 2 February 2023. [Google Scholar]
  • Borrelli, D. (2023), ‘Una posible agenda para la era del Antropoceno: Hacia una sociología transformadora’, Revista De Estudios Socioeducativos ReSed, 1:11, pp. 161–64, https://doi.org/10.25267/Rev_estud_socioeducativos.2023.i11.11. [Google Scholar]
  • Boykoff, M. T. (2009), ‘El caso del cambio climático: Los medios y la comunicación científica’, Infoamérica: Iberoamerican Communication Review, 1, pp. 117–27, https://www.infoamerica.org/icr/n01/infoamerica01_boykoff.pdf. Accessed 2 November 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Brüggemann, M. and Engesser, S. (2017), ‘Beyond false balance: How interpretive journalism shapes media coverage of climate change’, Global Environmental Change, 42, pp. 58–67, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.11.004. [Google Scholar]
  • Chen, K., Molder, A. L., Duan, Z., Boulianne, S., Eckart, C., Mallari, P. and Yang, D. (2023), ‘How climate movement actors and news media frame climate change and strike: Evidence from analyzing twitter and news media discourse from 2018 to 2021’, The International Journal of Press/Politics, 28:2, pp. 384–413, https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221106405. [Google Scholar]
  • Chernilo, D. (2021), ‘El “antropos” del Antropoceno interrogando los presupuestos humanistas y anti-humanistas de un programa cientifico’, Revista Novos Rumos Sociologicos, 9:15, pp. 38–65, https://revistas.ufpel.edu.br/index.php/sociologicos/article/view/3604/2954. Accessed 3 June 2023. [Google Scholar]
  • Collins, L. and Nerlich, B. (2015), ‘Examining user comments for deliberative democracy: A corpus-driven analysis of the climate change debate online’, Environmental Communication, 9:2, pp. 189–207, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.981560. [Google Scholar]
  • Díaz-Noci, J. (2008), ‘Definición teórica de las características del ciberperiodismo: elementos de la comunicación digital’, Doxa Comunicación, 6, pp. 53–91, https://revistascientificas.uspceu.com/doxacomunicacion/article/view/1286. Accessed 4 February 2023. [Google Scholar]
  • Esser, F. and Neuberger, C. (2018), ‘Realizing the democratic functions of journalism in the digital age: New alliances and a return to old values’, Journalism, 20:1, pp. 194–97, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918807067. [Google Scholar]
  • Fernández-Reyes, R. (2015), ‘Similitudes y contrastes entre la cobertura periodística y las búsquedas web en Google del “cambio climático” y del “calentamiento global” en España’, Razón y Palabra, 91, pp. 404–22, https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=199541387027. Accessed 20 December 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Galletero, C. and Saiz Echezarreta, V. (2018), ‘Estudio exploratorio de la calidad en el periodismo digital en Castilla-La Mancha’, Barataria Revista Castellano-Manchega de Ciencias Sociales, 24, pp. 173–89, https://doi.org/10.20932/barataria.v0i24.403. [Google Scholar]
  • García Avilés, J. A. (1996), Periodismo de calidad: Estándares informativos en la CBS, NBS y ABC, Pamplona: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, Eunsa. [Google Scholar]
  • García Avilés, J. A., Lara, A., de and Marin, B. (2016), ‘La dieta informativa de los futuros periodistas. Consumo mediático y aspiraciones profesionales: Estudio de caso (2007-2013)’, Ámbitos Revista Internacional de Comunicación, 32, pp. 1–14, https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5586029. Accessed 17 December 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • García Gordillo, M. (2013), ‘El Valor Agregado Periodistico, herramienta para el periodismo de calidad’, in J. L. Gómez Mompart, J. F. Rodríguez and D. Palau (eds), La Calidad Periodística, València: Servei de Publicacions Universitat de València, pp. 113–30. [Google Scholar]
  • Gómez Mompart, J. L. (2013), ‘Diagnosis y tratamiento de la calidad en el periodismo’, in J. L. Gómez Mompart, J. F. Rodríguez and D. Palau (eds), La Calidad Periodística, València: Servei de Publicacions Universitat de València, pp. 9–15. [Google Scholar]
  • Grundmann, R. (2021), ‘Using large text news archives for the analysis of climate change discourse: Some methodological observations’, Journal of Risk Research, 25:3, pp. 395–406, https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2021.1894471. [Google Scholar]
  • Gutiérrez Coba, L., Gómez Giraldo, J. C., Hernández-Rodríguez, J. C. and Arango-Forero, G. (2011), ‘Los noticieros espejo o la liviandad de la información’, Anagramas Rumbos y Sentidos de la Comunicación, 9:18, pp. 111–19, https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=491549021008. Accessed 1 December 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Haagerup, U. (2014), Constructive News: Why Negativity Destroys the Media and Democracy and How to Improve Journalism of Tomorrow, Rapperswil: InnoVatio Publishing. [Google Scholar]
  • Habermas, J. (2008), Facticidad y Validez (ed. and trans. M. Jiménez Redondo), Madrid: Trotta. [Google Scholar]
  • Habermas, J. (2010), Teoría de la Acción Comunicativa (ed. and trans. M. Jiménez Redondo), Madrid: Trotta. [Google Scholar]
  • Hart, P. S. and Feldman, L. (2016), ‘The impact of climate change: Related imagery and text on public opinion and behavior change’, Science Communication, 38:4, pp. 415–41, https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547016655357. [Google Scholar]
  • Hase, V., Mahl, D., Schäfer, M. and Keller, T. (2021), ‘Climate change in news media across the globe: An automated analysis of issue attention and themes in climate change coverage in 10 countries (2006–2018)’, Global Environmental Change, 70, pp. 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102353. [Google Scholar]
  • Hermans, L. and Gyldensted, C. (2019), ‘Elements of constructive journalism: Characteristics, practical application and audience valuation’, Journalism, 20:4, pp. 535–51, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918770537. [Google Scholar]
  • Höhle, J. and Bengtsson, S. L. (2023), ‘A didactic toolkit for climate change educators: Lessons from constructive journalism for emotionally sensitive and democratic content design’, Environmental Education Research, pp. 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2023.2182746. [Google Scholar]
  • Horta, A., Carvalho, A. and Schmidt, L. (2017), ‘The hegemony of global politics: News coverage of climate change in a small country’, Society & Natural Resources, 30:10, pp. 1246–60, https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1295497. [Google Scholar]
  • Keller, T. R., Valerie, H., Jagadish, T., Mahl, D. and Schäfer, M. (2020), ‘News media coverage of climate change in India 1997–2016: Using automated content analysis to assess themes and topics’, Environmental Communication, 14:2, pp. 219–35, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2019.1643383. [Google Scholar]
  • Labrada, E. and Salgado, C. (2013), ‘Diseño web adaptativo o responsivo’, Revista Digital Universitaria, 14:1, https://www.revista.unam.mx/ojs/index.php/rdu/article/view/133. Accessed 15 November 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Latour, B. (1993), We Have Never Been Modern, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]
  • Mäder, A. and Rinsdorf, L. (2023), ‘Constructive journalism as an adaptation to a changing media environment’, Journalism Studies, 24:3, pp. 329–46, https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2022.2159859. [Google Scholar]
  • McIntyre, K. (2019), ‘Solutions journalism: The effects of including solution information in news stories about social problems’, Journalism Practice, 13:8, pp. 1029–33, https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1640632. [Google Scholar]
  • McQuail, D. (2016), ‘Mass communication’, in G. Mazzoleni (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication, Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118541555.wbiepc155. [Google Schol
  • Meier, K. (2018), ‘How does the audience respond to constructive journalism?’, Journalism Practice, 12:6, pp. 764–80, https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1470472. [Google Scholar]
  • Mezo, J. (2007), ‘El calentamiento global en la prensa británica y española’, Panorama Social, 5:1, pp. 36–51, https://www.funcas.es/articulos/el-calentamiento-global-en-la-prensa-britanica-y-espanola/. Accessed 22 October 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Müller, L. (2014), Comparing Mass Media in Established Democracies: Patterns of Media Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan. [Google Scholar]
  • Netanel, N. (2021), ‘Mandating digital platform support for quality journalism’, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, 34:2, pp. 474–545, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3780132. Accessed 6 October 2022. [Google Scholar]
  • Newman, N., Fletcher, T., Robertson, C. T., Eddy, K. and Nielsen, R. K. (2022), ‘Digital news report’, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022. Accessed 2 February 2023.
  • Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Schulz, A., Andı, S. and Nielsen, R. K. (2020), ‘Digital news report’, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-06/DNR_2020_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 22 November 2022.
  • Nicolaisen, P. B. (2022), ‘Role perceptions in climate science communication’, Environmental Communication, 16:8, pp. 1010–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2152848. [Google Scholar]
  • Pandey, C. L. and Kurian, P. A. (2017), ‘The media and the major emitters: Media coverage of international climate change policy’, Global Environmental Politics, 17:4, pp. 67–87, https://doi.org/10.1162/GLEP_a_00430. [Google Scholar]
  • Parratt-Fernández, S., Chaparro-Domínguez, M. Á. and Gilbert, G. S. (2022), ‘Discursive strategies for climate change reporting: A case study of The Mercury News’, Environmental Communication, 16:4, pp. 505–19, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2048043. [Google Scholar]
  • Pearman, O., Boykoff, M., Nacu-Schmidt, A. and Katzung, A. (2021), ‘Media and climate change observatory Special Issue’, Review of Media Coverage of Climate Change and Global Warming, Special Issue 2021, https://doi.org/10.25810/3vaz-2z04. [Google Scholar]
  • Pellegrini, S. (2010), ‘La pauta como factor de calidad y perfil editorial: Análisis en los noticiarios de televisión chilenos’, Cuadernos de Información, 27, pp. 25–42, https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3384495. Accessed 31 August 2023. [Google Scholar]
  • Pellegrini, S., Mújica, C., Grassau, D., Puente, S. and Porath, W. (2011), Valor agregado periodístic: La apuesta por la calidad de las noticias, Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. [Google Scholar]
  • Picó, M. J. (2017), Periodismo ambiental, de la lucha ecologista al entorno digital, Barcelona: Editorial UOC. [Google Scholar]
  • Quesada, M., Blanco, E. and Teruel, L. (2015), ‘El cambio climático en la prensa europea: discurso editorial en “El País”, “Le Monde”, “The Guardian” y “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”’, Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 21:1, pp. 523–39, https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_ESMP.2015.v21.n1.49109. [Google Scholar]
  • Rodríguez-Cruz, I. (2012), ‘Análisis cuantitativo y calidad de la información sobre medio ambiente en la prensa española’, Proceedings of Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación AE-IC, Tarragona, 18–20 January, http://ae-ic.org/Tarragona/contents/comunicacions_cd/ok/85.pdf. Accessed 10 February 2023. [Google Scholar]
  • Rodríguez-Martínez, R., Codina, L. and Pedraza, R. (2012), ‘Indicadores para la evaluación de la calidad en cibermedios: Análisis de la interacción y de la adopción de la Web 2.0’, Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 35:1, pp. 61–93, https://doi.org/10.3989/redc.2012.1.858. [Google Scholar]
  • Sarica, S. and Luo, J. (2021), ‘Stopwords in technical language processing’, PloS One, 16:8, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254937. [Google Scholar]
  • Schmidt, A., Ivanova, A. and Schäfer, M. S. (2013), ‘Media attention for climate change around the world: A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage in 27 countries’, Global Environmental Change, 23:5, pp. 1233–48, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.07.020. [Google Scholar]
  • Scolari, C. (2015), ‘Antropoceno y evolución de los medios’, Hipermediaciones, 14 March, https://hipermediaciones.com/2015/03/14/antropoceno-y-evolucion-de-los-medios/. Accessed 3 June 2023.
  • Scudder, M. (2016), ‘Beyond empathy: Strategies and ideals of democratic deliberation’, Polity, 48:4, pp. 524–50, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41279-016-0001-9. [Google Scholar]
  • Silva-Schmidt, F., de, Brüggemann, M., Hoppe, I. and Arlt, D. (2022), ‘Learning about climate politics during COP 21: Explaining a diminishing knowledge gap’, Public Understanding of Science, 31:5, pp. 617–33, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.981560. [Google Scholar]
  • Sloterdijk, P. (2018), ¿Qué sucedió en el siglo XX?, Madrid: Siruela. [Google Scholar]
  • Soloski, J. (1989), ‘Sources and channels of local news’, Journalism Quarterly, 66:4, pp. 864–70, https://doi.org/10.1177/107769908906600413. [Google Scholar]
  • Song, Y., Zeping, H., Schuldt, J. and Yuan, C. (2021), ‘National prisms of a global phenomenon: A comparative study of press coverage of climate change in the US, UK and China’, Journalism, 23:10, pp. 2208–29, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884921989124. [Google Scholar]
  • Steel, D., DesRoches, T. and Mintz, K. (2022), ‘Climate change and the threat to civilization’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 119:42, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210525119. [Google Scholar]
  • Thier, K. and Tong, L. (2022), ‘How solutions journalism shapes support for collective climate change adaptation’, Environmental Communication, 16:8, pp. 1027–45, https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2143842. [Google Scholar]
  • Umamaheswaran, S., Dar, V. and Thaker, J. (2022), ‘The evolution of climate change reporting in business media: Longitudinal analysis of a business newspaper’, Sustainability, 14:22, https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215214. [Google Scholar]
  • Wessler, H. and Rinke, E. M. (2014), ‘Deliberative performance of television news in three types of democracy: Insights from the United States, Germany, and Russia’, Journal of Communication, 65:5, pp. 827–51, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12115. [Google Scholar]
  • Wibeck, V. (2014), ‘Enhancing learning, communication and public engagement about climate change: Some lessons from recent literature’, Environmental Education Research, 20:3, pp. 387–411, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2013.812720. [Google Scholar]
  • Wolling, J. and Arlt, D. (2017), ‘Media coverage of international climate summits and negotiations’, in M. C. Nisbet (ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication: Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Climate Science, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–26, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.362. [Google Scholar]
  • Wonneberger, A., Meijers, M. H. and Schuck, A. R. (2020), ‘Shifting public engagement: How media coverage of climate change conferences affects climate change audience segments’, Public Understanding of Science, 29:2, pp. 176–93, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662519886474. [Google Scholar]
  • Wozniak, A., Wessler, H., Chan, C. H. and Lueck, J. (2021), ‘The event-centered nature of global public spheres: The UN climate change conferences, Fridays for Future, and the (limited) transnationalization of media debates’, International Journal of Communication, 15, pp. 688–714, https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/14843/3344. Accessed 17 June 2023. [Google Scholar]
  • Zeldin-O’Neill, S. (2019), ‘“It’s a crisis, not a change”: The six Guardian language changes on climate matters: The Guardian’, The Guardian, 16 October, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/16/guardian-language-changes-climate-environment. Accessed 5 October 2022. [Google Scholar]
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet