Climate-Change Journalism and "Edgeball" Politics in Contemporary China. Issue 5 (4th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Geall, Sam
• Is Part Of: Society and natural resources. Volume 31:Issue 5(2018)
• Page Start: 541
• Page End: 555
• Publication Date: 2018-05-04
• Subjects: Authoritarianism -- China -- climate change -- journalism; Natural resources -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2017.1414907
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-1920

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Climate change is a complex and uncertain phenomenon, requiring political approaches that can find compromise and incorporate feedback from experience, as well as harness the role of civil society in holding governments to account. It thus presents an unusual challenge for China, the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitter and an authoritarian regime, which tends to avoid the inclusion of non-state actors in governance. Drawing on ethnographic research among contemporary Chinese environmental journalists, this article suggests that climate change, as a destabilizing phenomenon with nonlinear and uncertain dynamics, can be drawn upon to develop a pluralistic political position that may run counter to such authoritarian approaches. It shows that Chinese journalists can create in climate reporting a space where outcomes are not known in advance, and where people therefore might generate political positions that challenge dominant narratives around science, technology, and the environment.