ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Framing the climate crisis: Dread and fatalism in media and interest group responses to IPCC reports
Melissa K. Merry,
Hailey Mattingly,
Corresponding Author
Melissa K. Merry
Department of Political Science, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Correspondence
Melissa K. Merry, Department of Political Science, University of Louisville, 2301 S. 3rd St., Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorHailey Mattingly
Department of Political Science, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMelissa K. Merry,
Hailey Mattingly,
Corresponding Author
Melissa K. Merry
Department of Political Science, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Correspondence
Melissa K. Merry, Department of Political Science, University of Louisville, 2301 S. 3rd St., Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorHailey Mattingly
Department of Political Science, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
enWhile UN reports indicate increasingly dire consequences of climate change, the political will to initiate rapid decarbonization is lacking, as nations fail to meet targets set by international agreements. Given these developments, this paper investigates the role of climate dread and fatalism in the discourse about climate science. We examine the treatment of fatalism in major theories of the policy process, noting that climate policy represents a relatively novel situation—in which a problem once deemed solvable is being redefined as an issue outside the realm of human control. Using automated content analysis, we examine how journalists and interest groups framed reports issued by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2013 to 2022. We find limited changes in the tone and content of news stories and environmental groups' statements, and we suggest that these findings reflect under-reaction of the political system to new information.
Resumen
esSi bien los informes de la ONU indican consecuencias cada vez más nefastas del cambio climático, falta la voluntad política para iniciar una rápida descarbonización, ya que las naciones no logran cumplir los objetivos establecidos por los acuerdos internacionales. Dados estos desarrollos, este artículo investiga el papel del miedo climático y el fatalismo en el discurso sobre la ciencia del clima. Examinamos el tratamiento del fatalismo en las principales teorías del proceso de políticas, observando que la política climática representa una situación relativamente nueva, en la que un problema que alguna vez se consideró solucionable se redefine como un problema fuera del ámbito del control humano. Utilizando el análisis de contenido automatizado, examinamos cómo los periodistas y los grupos de interés enmarcaron los informes emitidos por el Panel Intergubernamental sobre el Cambio Climático (IPCC) de 2013 a 2022. Encontramos cambios limitados en el tono y el contenido de las noticias y las declaraciones de los grupos ambientalistas, y sugerimos que estos hallazgos reflejan una reacción insuficiente del sistema político a la nueva información.
摘要
zh尽管联合国报告表明，气候变化的后果越来越严重，但由于各国未能实现国际协议设定的目标，因此缺乏启动快速脱碳的政治意愿。鉴于这些发展，本文调查了气候恐惧和宿命论在气候科学话语中的作用。我们分析了关于政策过程的主要理论对宿命论的处理，并指出气候政策代表了一种相对新颖的情况——曾经被认为可以解决的问题正在被重新定义为人类控制范围之外的问题。通过使用自动内容分析，我们研究了记者和利益集团如何建构2013年至2022年政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)发布的报告。我们发现，新闻报道和环保组织声明的基调和内容变化有限。我们暗示，这些研究结果反映了政治制度对新信息的反应不足。
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