Australian media coverage of two pivotal climate change summits: A comparative study between COP15 and COP21

Abstract

From an international perspective Australia’s ‘climate change wars’ can be challenging to grasp (Chubb, 2014). Part of the explanation to the protracted divisions on meaningful action on climate change can be found in media coverage of the issue. This makes Australia an interesting case study from an international and journalism studies perspective.This article compares the coverage in two major Australian newspapers of the two pivotal climate change summits in Copenhagen in 2009 and in Paris 2015. The primary research question was: in what way, if any, has the reporting of two major international climate change meetings in The Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph changed over time? The project used a mixed methods approach drawing on longitudinal content analysis data and interviews conducted with senior Australian journalists. The approach generated rich data allowing for a discussion using the ‘wicked policy problem’ framework (Head & Alford, 2013).

Keywords

• Australia
• climate change
• climate summits
• Copenhagen
• Denmark
• journalism