Climate Change in the Media: Poland’s Exceptionalism

ABSTRACT

Poland is the largest hard coal producer in the European Union (EU), and remains very dependent on coal for its energy. Despite the significant long-term implications of EU mitigation policies for the Polish economy, coverage of climate change and policy in the Polish media remains very low. This study of the coverage both in print media and on television of the 2013/2014 Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that the volume of coverage in Poland was much lower than in other European countries. The article explores possible reasons for the “exceptionalism” found in the Polish media.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• climate policy
• media
• Poland
• IPCC

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Ms Anja Naper, specially for her work on the coding of the Norwegian and Spanish sample, and for the design of Table 3 and Figure 2. Useful constructive comments of two anonymous referees and Dr Matthew Nisbet, Editor, are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/icecaps/research/media_coverage/world/index.html.

2. The Central Statistical Office of Poland, status for October 2016, http://stat.gov.pl/podstawowe-dane/.

3. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD.

4. http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2015/12/07/revealed-poland-coal-bailout/.

5. Instytut Monitorowania Mediów (Institute of Media Monitoring), September 2014; Polskie Badania Czytelnictwa (Polish Readership Surveys), September 2014, http://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/artykul/fakt-liderem-czytelnictwa-na-mazowszu-wyprzedzil-gazete-wyborcza.

6. Instytut Monitorowania Mediów (Institute of Media Monitoring), September 2014.

7. Związek Kontroli i Dystrybucji Prasy (ZKDP); https://www.teleskop.org.pl/zkdp/index.jsp?p=publicData.

8. Związek Kontroli i Dystrybucji Prasy (ZKDP); https://www.teleskop.org.pl/zkdp/index.jsp?p=publicData.

9. Związek Kontroli i Dystrybucji Prasy (ZKDP); https://www.teleskop.org.pl/zkdp/index.jsp?p=publicData.

10. Instytut Monitorowania Mediów, September 2014. Analysis of citations embraces references to, or citations of, statements originating from another media source (press, radio, television).

11. The Pew Survey showed that that there was a substantial generation gap, where younger Poles (71%) were more likely to back government curbs on global warming pollutants than older Poles (57%).

12. http://www.euractiv.com/section/public-affairs/news/poland-s-eu-commissioner-in-surprise-climate-denial-move/.

13. http://www.newsweek.pl/polska/co2-nie-ma-znaczenia-dla-klimatu--kaczynski-na-slasku,89656,1,1.

14. Rzeczpospolita, 14 April 2014.

15. http://www.klimatycznabzduraroku.pl/gaz-zycia.

16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjMQYE6Qp-k.

17. https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml.

18. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/ar5/prpc_syr/11022014_syr_copenhagen.pdf.

19. However, Gazeta Wyborcza did publish a whole-page article by Z. W. Kundzewicz, entitled ‘Global nonsense about global conspiracy,’ on 8 February 2010; https://www.pressreader.com/poland/gazeta-wyborcza/20100208/281784215237612.

20. PRESS-SERVICE Monitoring Mediów Sp. z o.o.

21. Two other articles were published in Gazeta Wyborcza in September 2013 about the IPCC and climate change, but these were outside our sample dates.

22. The large amount of UK coverage is also found in other comparative studies of global IPCC coverage (Kunelius et al., 2016), and is in part a result of the Guardian investing significant resources into covering the environment and climate change (Painter, 2013).

23. 6 November 2013, http://www.polityka.pl/niezbednikinteligenta?numerWydania=100075.

24. http://climatechangereconsidered.org/.

25. Polish scientists have occasionally become IPCC Coordinating Lead Authors (CLAs), Lead Authors (LAs), or Review Editors (REs). Among CLAs, Zdzislaw Kaczmarek played this role once and Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz four times. In the IPCC AR5 process, Tomasz Zylicz was an LA in WG3 and Z. W. Kundzewicz was an RE in both WG2 and in the Synthesis Report process.

26. http://wpolityce.pl/spoleczenstwo/245431-duda-nie-ma-zgody-na-zamykanie-polskich-kopaln-wegiel-to-jest-nasz-narodowy-skarb-i-gwarancja-suwerennosci-energetycznej; http://biznesalert.pl/tchorzewski-uratujemy-wegiel-z-korzyscia-dla-gospodarki-rozmowa/; http://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2016-12-02/szydlo-polski-wegiel-bedzie-synonimem-nowoczesnosci/.

Additional information

Funding

This paper forms part of the research coordinated by the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Climate Project “AR5 in Europe,” funded by the Norwegian Research Council (Norges Forskningsråd).