Cognitive Framing in Climate Change Debates: A Discourse Analysis of Media and Policy Texts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1506.33Keywords:
critical discourse analysis, media texts, policy communication, climate change discourse, cognitive framingAbstract
How the public perceives climate change and the actions taken to address it are significantly influenced by how the issue is framed in discourse. This study employs Cognitive Critical Discourse Analysis (Cognitive CDA) to examine the mental frameworks present in media and policy texts related to climate change. By analyzing a broad collection of international media articles and policy papers, the research identifies recurring themes such as “climate crisis”, “economic opportunity”, and “natural disaster”. These thematic frames shape public understanding, often amplifying urgency and emotional response. The study explores how such heightened rhetoric can be leveraged to foster unity rather than division. Additionally, it investigates the tension between the discourse of urgency and the presentation of viable solutions, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach. Ultimately, this research contributes to the development of effective communication strategies that support long-term, sustainable policy objectives, ensuring that climate discourse encourages meaningful action rather than polarization.
References
Antilla, L. (2005). Climate of skepticism: US newspaper coverage of the science of climate change. Global Environmental Change, 15(4), 338–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.08.003
Atanasova, D., & Koteyko, N. (2017). Metaphors in Guardian Online and Mail Online opinion-page content on climate change: War, religion, and politics. Environmental Communication, 11(4), 452–479. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2015.1024705
Billett, S. (2010). Dividing climate change: Global warming in the Indian mass media. Climatic Change, 99(1–2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9605-3
Boykoff, M. T. (2008). The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids. Political Geography, 27(5), 549–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2008.05.002
Boykoff, M. T. (2011). Who speaks for the climate? Making sense of media reporting on climate change. Cambridge University Press.
Boykoff, M. T., & Boykoff, J. M. (2004). Balance as bias: Global warming and the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change, 14(2), 125–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.10.001
Brulle, R. J., Carmichael, J., & Jenkins, J. C. (2012). Shifting public opinion on climate change: An empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010. Climatic Change, 114(2), 169–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0403-y
Carvalho, A. (2007). Ideological cultures and media discourses on scientific knowledge: Re-reading news on climate change. Public Understanding of Science, 16(2), 223–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662506066775
Carvalho, A., & Burgess, J. (2005). Cultural circuits of climate change in U.K. broadsheet newspapers, 1985–2003. Risk Analysis, 25(6), 1457–1469. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2005.00692.x
Corner, A., Markowitz, E., & Pidgeon, N. (2014). Public engagement with climate change: The role of human values. WIREs Climate Change, 5(3), 411–422. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.269
Doulton, H., & Brown, K. (2009). Ten years to prevent catastrophe? Discourses of climate change and international development in the UK press. Global Environmental Change, 19(2), 191–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.10.004
Doyle, J. (2007). Picturing the climatic: Greenpeace and the representational politics of climate change communication. Science as Culture, 16(2), 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505430701368938
Dryzek, J. S., Norgaard, R. B., & Schlosberg, D. (2011). The Oxford handbook of climate change and society. Oxford University Press.
Eide, E., & Ytterstad, A. (2011). The tainted hero: Frames of domestication in Norwegian press representation of the Bali climate summit. International Journal of Press/Politics, 16(1), 50–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161210383994
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media discourse and public opinion on nuclear power: A constructionist approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95(1), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1086/229213
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Harvard University Press.
Grundmann, R., & Krishnamurthy, R. (2010). The discourse of climate change: A corpus-based approach. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines, 4(2), 125–146.
Hulme, M. (2009). Why we disagree about climate change: Understanding controversy, inaction, and opportunity. Cambridge University Press.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2021). Climate change 2021: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896
Iyengar, S. (1991). Is anyone responsible? How television frames political issues. University of Chicago Press.
Jaspal, R., & Nerlich, B. (2014). When climate science became climate politics: British media representations of climate change in 1988. Public Understanding of Science, 23(2), 122–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662512440219
Lakoff, G. (2010). Why it matters how we frame the environment. Environmental Communication, 4(1), 70–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524030903529749
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
Leiserowitz, A. A. (2006). Climate change risk perception and policy preferences: The role of affect, imagery, and values. Climatic Change, 77(1–2), 45–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9059-9
McComas, K., & Shanahan, J. (1999). Telling stories about global climate change: Measuring the impact of narratives on issue cycles. Communication Research, 26(1), 30–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365099026001003
McCright, A. M., & Dunlap, R. E. (2011). The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American public's views of global warming, 2001–2010. Sociological Quarterly, 52(2), 155–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2011.01198.x
Moser, S. C., & Dilling, L. (Eds.). (2007). Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change. Cambridge University Press.
Nerlich, B., & Jaspal, R. (2012). Metaphors we die by? Geoengineering, metaphors, and the argument from catastrophe. Metaphor and Symbol, 27(2), 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2012.665795
Nisbet, M. C. (2009). Communicating climate change: Why frames matter for public engagement. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 51(2), 12–23. https://doi.org/10.3200/ENVT.51.2.12-23
Olausson, U. (2009). Global warming—global responsibility? Media frames of collective action and scientific certainty. Public Understanding of Science, 18(4), 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662507081242
Painter, J. (2013). Climate change in the media: Reporting risk and uncertainty. I.B. Tauris.
Reese, S. D., Gandy, O. H., & Grant, A. E. (Eds.). (2001). Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Russell, A., & Fowler, C. (2002). Frames and agendas in Australian newspaper coverage of the 1997 Kyoto Conference on climate change. Environmentalist, 22(3), 11–16.
Schäfer, M. S., & Schlichting, I. (2014). Media representations of climate change: A meta-analysis of the research field. Environmental Communication, 8(2), 142–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.914050
van Dijk, T. A. (2008). Discourse and context: A sociocognitive approach. Cambridge University Press.
