The framing of climate change in New Zealand newspapers from June 2009 to June 2010

Figures & data

Table 1 Frame typology.

Frame	Key issues or themes raised or discussed in media coverage
Social progress	Efforts to curb emissions/tech solutions as part of broader steps towards more ‘green’, sustainable future, energy security (e.g. optimism regarding solutions, highlights responsibility and efficacy of the individual, lifestyle decisions, focus on ‘human interest’ themes). Alternatively, discusses adaptation to changing climate (e.g. town planning with rising sea levels or calls to action).
Morality	Climate change and efforts to curb emissions as moral/ethical issue (e.g. emphasis on risk/responsibility divide between developed and developing world, moral responsibility to future generations, to poor nations that will be affected most, ‘doing our fair share as a country’).
Politics	Climate change as a policy issue, places onus on politicians, governments, diplomacy for solutions (e.g. what individual politicians are saying/doing, what they should be doing, solutions lie in hands of politicians/governments). Alternatively, climate change as matter of political strategy/conflict (e.g. between politicians/politicians versus NGOs over climate policy, Emissions Trading Scheme, carbon taxes).
Scientific controversy	Evidence/Claims regarding Accident Compensation Corporation New Zealand as matter of dispute/controversy between groups or individuals (e.g. defines the case for climate change as scientists vs sceptics, the ‘climate change debate’). ‘Duelling scientists’ scenario employed.
Science	Climate change as a scientific/technical issue, a matter of scientific expertise (e.g. focus on novel new research, new IPCC methods, research methods, scientific background—recapitulation of ‘what is known vs unknown’, emphasis on authority of scientists, experts).
Economic competitiveness	Potential solutions to climate change as boon/burden to economic competitiveness (e.g. carbon tax/ETS will cripple economy/encourage innovation. New Zealand potential to be innovation leader/threats to agricultural economy, risks to tourism, clean green brand, action on climate change).

Sources: McComas & Shanahan (1999); Zehr (2000); Dispensa & Brulle (2003); Brossard et al. (2004); Kenix (2008); Howard-Williams (2009); Nisbet (2010).

Table 2 Source categories.

Source	Description
Academic/Expert	Individual climate scientists, university research group, academics (e.g. Jim Salinger, James Renwick, Mike Hulme).
Non-expert commentator/citizen	Citizens, celebrities, public figures with no scientific expertise (e.g. Sir Paul McCartney, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Lucy Lawless).
Business and industry	Business and industry groups, lobby groups, business representatives/figures (e.g. Greenhouse Policy Coalition).
Economist	Economists or economic institutions (e.g. Sir Nicholas Stern, Treasurers, Treasury spokesperson, Gareth Morgan).
Independent research groups	Unaffiliated/independent research groups (e.g. World Meteorological Organisation, Hadley Centre, Cawthron Institute).
Politician	Government, politicians, political elites, government officials (e.g. John Key, Nick Smith, Barack Obama).
NGO	Environmental organisations, non-governmental organisations (e.g. IPCC, WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Unicef).
Sceptic	Actors noted as sceptics, well-known sceptics, sceptical lobby groups (e.g. Chris de Freitas, Ian Wishart, New Zealand Climate Science Coalition).
Unnamed expert	Expert quoted unnamed
No source	No source present

Sources: Brossard et al. (2004); Kenix (2008).

Figure 1 Total number of climate change articles in The New Zealand Herald, The Press and The Dominion Post between June 2009 and June 2010 (n = 540). Coverage grew over the first half of the study period, reaching a peak during November (99 articles) and December 2009 (122 articles), coinciding with the breaking of the Climategate email hacking and the highly anticipated Copenhagen Summit.

Figure 2 Frame prominence across The New Zealand Herald, The Press and The Dominion Post between June 2009 and June 2010, showing the frequency that each frame was Present (dark grey, below) or Dominant (light grey, above) in articles. Econ Comp, Economic Competitiveness; Sci Contr, Scientific Controversy.

Figure 3 Mean frame score (0–2) of each frame, comparing The New Zealand Herald (n = 243, pale grey), The Dominion Post (n = 153, dark grey) and The Press (n = 144, white). Significant differences were detected in the mean scores of the Economic Competitiveness (Economic Comp.) (F [2,537] = 8.606, P < 0.05), Science (F [2,537] = 4.633, P < 0.05) and Consequences (F [2, 537] = 4.880, P < 0.05) frames.

Figure 4 Frequency of employment of the Politics frame over the study period. A steep drop in frame frequency occurred in January 2010 following the failure of the Copenhagen Summit, before it began to rise again in May 2010, from renewed debate around the Emissions Trading Scheme.

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