Internet Memes, Media Frames, and the Conflicting Logics of Climate Change Discourse

ABSTRACT

Media frames have been applied to news information for decades to influence the manner in which news is both delivered and interpreted. However, media frames have tended to focus on traditional news media channels, but the emergence of new media platforms now necessitates a recalibration of how media framing is understood in relation to media and communication studies. With a focus on the issue of climate change, this study explores how framing is employed by the phenomenon of Internet memes in the new media landscape. Specifically, memes presented demonstrate the representation of five common media frames from the perspectives of both the “convinced” and “skeptical” logics. It is argued that through the use of common meme templates combined with the typical humorous or ironic message they convey, Internet memes represent a potentially powerful form of socio-political participation in the online community.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• communication
• discourse
• framing
• Internet memes
• logics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Andrew S. Ross http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-9962

Damian J. Rivers http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6624-5113

Notes

1 The complete quote from the film reads:

One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep; the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust.