Ideologies Overruled? An Explorative Study of the Link Between Ideology and Climate Change Reporting in Dutch and French Newspapers

Abstract

This article studies the relationship between the ideology of newspapers and their climate change coverage. Previous research has focused on the British press (Carvalho, 2007; Carvalho & Burgess, 2005). Our research broadens this scope to the French and Dutch media. The results show that the ideology of newspapers in the Netherlands is not related to climate change coverage, while in France the ideology of newspapers is related to some key aspects of climate change coverage, i.e., the presentation of the necessity of actions against climate change and the tone of climate change coverage. The findings suggests that ideological cultures play a role in the coverage of climate change in countries in which global warming has brought about much discussion in the political field and that are characterized by a highly competitive media landscape which is historically related to the political field.

Keywords:

• Climate Change
• Media Coverage
• Ideology
• France
• The Netherlands

Notes

1. We use the term “so-called” because the literature concerning the specific ideology of newspapers is limited, although there are several indicators of certain ideological profiles. To facilitate reading we will not constantly repeat the term “so-called,” but during the entire article a nuanced vision on the right-left distinction remains imperative.

2. The researchers focused on articles that appeared at specific critical discourse moments. These are “moments that can bring challenges to discursive constructions of the climate change issue,” such as international summits or the launch of reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Carvalho, 2007, p. 226).

3. Liberalism is sometimes considered as “right-wing” and sometimes as “left-wing.” Liberalism in the right-wing sense of the word entails an aversion to government intervention (mainly in economics) and an adherence to individual emancipation. Liberalism in the left-wing sense of the word refers to the promotion of equal opportunities for everyone.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Astrid Dirikx

Astrid Dirikx is a Research Assistant of the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium), working at the School for Mass Communication Research K.U. Leuven (Belgium). She holds an MA (2007) in Communication Science K.U. Leuven and has conducted several media framing studies and quantitative content analyses on the climate change coverage of Western European newspapers. She is currently working on a Ph.D. regarding the role of media in adolescents' perceptions of the police

Dave Gelders

Dave Gelders is a former Assistant Professor of Communication Management at the K.U. Leuven. He conducted and supervised research on policy of communications, risk and crisis communication, citizen participation, the image of the government, etc