Climate change as a challenge for journalism: a review of the literature

RICHARD VAN DER WURFF Climate change as a challenge for journalism: a review of the literature This literature review synthesizes 35 years of research on climate change reporting in industrialized countries. It focuses on the production and content of climate change news. Starting from the notion of the mediatisation of politics, the study shows that news values and media logic shape the selection of climate change related newsworthy events, while political actors and their logics determine the political framing of the issue. Next, implications for public opinion and mediated public debate are briefly assessed. Overall, the findings suggest that reporting focuses on threats and conflicts, favours national rather than transnational angles, reinforces ideological cleavages, downplays deliberative arguments, and disengages citizens. In conclusion, four lines of research are proposed that can help us better understand the role media might play in engaging citizens in a more deliberative mediated debate on climate change as important ecological and political challenge.