Media, Climate Change, Justice and Solidarity

• In Event: Journalism and IPCC AR5: A Global Perspective

Abstract

Climate change is a universal global issue with particular uneven local effects (cf Roosvall & Tegelberg, forthcoming). Hence, calls for climate justice have emerged as climate change has become increasingly palpable (Ytterstad & Russell, 2012). For justice to be implemented in a world marked by economic competition and competition over natural resources, solidarity is needed. Solidarity is signified by empathy, reciprocity, responsibility and restitution (Kössler & Melber, 2008; Roosvall, 2014). This primarily theoretical paper uses Swedish newspaper coverage of climate change as a case study to illuminate how issues of justice and solidarity are represented in climate change coverage after the crucial 2007 IPCC report. Using a combined quantitative and qualitative (CDA) approach it explores: To what extent, in what contexts and in relation to which actors are justice and solidarity featured in the coverage? Theories on justice, responsibility and solidarity (Nussbaum, 2013; Young, 2013; Chouliaraki, 2013) frame the analysis.

Author

• Anna Roosvall, Orebro U