Climate Skepticism in British Newspapers, 2007–2011. Issue 4 (3rd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Painter, James; Gavin, Neil T.
• Is Part Of: Environmental communication. Volume 10:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 432
• Page End: 452
• Publication Date: 2016-07-03
• Subjects: climate change -- skepticism -- UK newspapers -- ideology -- content analysis; Communication in the environmental sciences -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2014.995193
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1752-4032

Abstract

Abstract : Climate skepticism in the UK media has not been a major focus of recent research. This paper aims to help fill the gap by looking at the incidence of skeptical voices in UK newspapers across three periods: 2007, 2009/2010, and 2010/2011. After analyzing more than 3200 articles, it finds that skeptical voices increased their presence markedly across all newspapers and all types of articles in the second period, and maintained a significant presence in many in the third. Uncontested skeptical voices were particularly prevalent in opinion pieces and editorials in right-leaning newspapers in the second. It also finds that skeptical voices or opinions were more likely to be included in pieces written by in-house non-specialist columnists than by environment editors or correspondents. The negative implications of the results for public understanding and the quality of public debate are then explored.