Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-05T10:32:02.739Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

US Media Coverage of the Cancún Climate Change Conference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2012

Jules Boykoff
Jules Boykoff
Affiliation:
Pacific University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Much was at stake at the 2010 United Nations climate change conference in Cancún, Mexico. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was being challenged by the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States, after these countries reached a tenuous backroom deal one year earlier in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, scientific studies were warning of serious and severe climate change. This article analyzes newspaper articles and television segments from the US media that appeared during the timeframe of the Cancún conference, focusing on two key facets of coverage that continue to be important as negotiations proceed: the economic impacts and opportunities that climate change creates and the role that China plays in negotiations. I also examine which sources were allowed through the news gates and which ones were marginalized. I find that the US media discussed economic opportunities more frequently than economic impacts and that the media treated China in an even-handed way. Established political actors dominated coverage, followed by representatives of nongovernmental organizations and the business community. Meanwhile, grassroots activists and indigenous voices were marginalized.

Type
Features
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 251 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antilla, Liisa. 2005. “Climate of Scepticism: US Newspaper Coverage of the Science of Climate Change.” Global Environmental Change 15: 338–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, Jeffrey. 2010. “Energy and the Environment: More Certainty, More Innovation.” Wall Street Journal, November 22, R4.Google Scholar
Ball, Jeffrey, and Sweet, Cassandra. 2010. “U.N. Climate Talks End—Rich Nations Agree to Help Poorer Ones but Put Off Figuring Out Who Will Pay.” Wall Street Journal, December 13, A15.Google Scholar
Barilleaux, Ryan J. 1985. “The President, ‘Intermestic’ Issues, and the Risks of Policy Leadership.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 15 (4): 754–67.Google Scholar
Booth, William, and Eilperin, Juliet. 2010. “At Climate Summit, the Real Action Is Behind the Scenes.” Washington Post, December 9, A16.Google Scholar
Boykoff, Maxwell T. 2007. “Flogging a Dead Norm? Newspaper Coverage of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the United States and United Kingdom from 2003 to 2006.” Area 39 (2): 470–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boykoff, Maxwell T., and Boykoff, Jules M.. 2004. “Balance as Bias: Global Warming and the U.S. Prestige Press.” Global Environmental Change 15 (2): 125–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boykoff, Maxwell T., and Boykoff, Jules M.. 2007. “Climate Change and Journalistic Norms: A Case Study of U.S. Mass-Media Coverage.” Geoforum 38 (6): 1190–1204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradsher, Keith. 2010a. “Beijing Turbine: China Sets Rules and Wins Wind Power Game.” New York Times, December 15, A1.Google Scholar
Bradsher, Keith. 2010b. “Chinese Tycoon Focuses on Green Construction.” New York Times, December 8, A3.Google Scholar
Broder, John M. 2010. “U.S. and China Narrow Differences at Climate Conference.” New York Times, December 8, A15.Google Scholar
Broder, John M., and Stolberg, Sheryl Gaye. 2010. “E.P.A. Delays Tougher Rules On Emissions.” New York Times, December 10, A1.Google Scholar
Carey, Tim, Chu, Alan, Hedden, Wayne, and Sulavik, Christopher. 2010. “The US-China Cleantech Connection: Shaping a New Commercial Diplomacy.” PricewaterhouseCoopers. September: 1–12.Google Scholar
Castells, Manuel. 2005. “Governance and Global Politics.” PS: Political Science and Politics 38 (1): 9–16.Google Scholar
Chichilnisky, Graciela, and Sheeran, Kristen. 2009. Saving Kyoto: An Insider's Guide to How It Works, Why It Matters and What It Means for the Future. London: New Holland Publishers.Google Scholar
Dunlap, Riley E., and McCright, Aaron M.. 2008. “A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change.” Environment 50 (5): 26–35.Google Scholar
Eilperin, Juliet, and Booth, William. 2010a. “Some Aren't Waiting for Climate Consensus.” Washington Post, December 10, A1.Google Scholar
Eilperin, Juliet, and Booth, William. 2010b. “Climate Summit in Cancun Intent on Progress.” Washington Post, December 7, A12.Google Scholar
Eilperin, Juliet, and Booth, William. 2010c. “193 Nations Sign Climate-Change Package.” Washington Post, December 12, A4.Google Scholar
Entman, Robert W. 2004. Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ernst & Young. 2010. “Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices.” Issue #27 (November): 1–31.Google Scholar
Finn, Robin. 2010. “Weather's Perils, Fiscally Considered.” New York Times, December 2, A32.Google Scholar
Fletcher, Michael A. 2010. “Retrained for Greens Jobs, But Still Waiting for Work.” Washington Post, November 23, A1.Google Scholar
Folkenflik, David. 2011. “In London, a Case Study in Opinionated Press.” National Public Radio, January 4, http://www.npr.org/2011/01/04/132629428/in-london-a-case-study-in-opinionated-press.Google Scholar
Freudenburg, William R., and Muselli, Violetta. 2010. “Global Warming Estimates, Media Expectations, and the Asymmetry of Scientific Challenge.” Global Environmental Change 20 (3): 483–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Kevin, and Ackerman, Frank. 2010. “Cancún and the New Economics of Climate Change.” Guardian, November 30, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/30/global-climate-talks-climate-change.Google Scholar
Glanz, James, and Markoff, John. 2010. “Vast Hacking by a China Fearful of the Web.” New York Times, December 5, A1.Google Scholar
Gore, Al. 2007. “Nobel Lecture.” Oslo, December 10. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/gore-lecture_en.html.Google Scholar
Green-Weiskel, Lucia. 2011. “Climate Clash in Cancún.” The Nation, January 3, 20–23.Google Scholar
Hallin, Daniel. 1984. “The Media, the War in Vietnam, and Political Support: A Critique of the Thesis of an Oppositional Media.” Journal of Politics 46 (1): 2–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, Danny, and Guardino, Matt. 2010. “Whose Views Made the News?: Media Coverage and the March to War in Iraq.” Political Communication 27 (1): 59–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedin, Jack. 2010. “An Almanac of Extreme Weather.” New York Times, November 28, 9.Google Scholar
Hunter, David. 2010. “Implications of the Copenhagen Accord for Global Climate Governance.” Sustainable Development Law & Policy 10 (2): 4–15, 56–57.Google Scholar
Indian Country Today. 2010. “Climate Situation ‘Dire and Urgent’.” Indian Country Today, December 8, 4.Google Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto, and McGrady, Jennifer A.. 2007. Media Politics: A Citizen's Guide. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Leslie. 2010. “Front-Line City Starts Tackling Rise in the Sea.” New York Times, November 26, A1.Google Scholar
Luntz, Frank 2002. “The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America.” http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/001330.php.Google Scholar
McCombs, Maxwell, and Shaw, Donald. 1972. “The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media.” Public Opinion Quarterly 36: 176–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCright, Aaron M., and Dunlap, Riley E.. 2000. “Challenging Global Warming as a Social Problem: An Analysis of the Conservative Movement's Counter-Claims.” Social Problems 47 (4): 499–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCright, Aaron M., and Dunlap, Riley E.. 2003. “Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative Movement's Impact on Climate Change Policy.” Social Problems 50 (3): 348–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCright, Aaron M., and Dunlap, Riley E.. 2010. “Anti-Reflexivity: The American Conservative Movement's Success in Undermining Climate Science and Policy.” Theory, Culture & Society 27 (2-3): 100–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKnight, David. 2010. “A Change in the Climate?: The Journalism of Opinion at News Corporation.” Journalism 11 (6): 693–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mermin, Jonathan. 1999. Debating War and Peace. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbet, Matthew C. 2009. “Communicating Climate Change: Why Frames Matter for Public Engagement.” Environment 51 (March/April): 12–23.Google Scholar
Nisbet, Matthew C. 2011. “Climate Shift: Clear Vision for the Next Decade of Public Debate.” Spring. www.ClimateShiftProject.org.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, Ted, and Shellenberger, Michael. 2010. “How to Change the Global Energy Conversation.” Wall Street Journal, November 29, R1.Google Scholar
Obama, Barack, 2010. “Press Conference by the President.” November 3. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/03/press-conference-president.Google Scholar
Painter, James. 2010. Summoned by Science: Reporting Climate Change at Copenhagen and Beyond. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.Google Scholar
Pielke, Roger Jr. 2010. The Climate Fix: What Scientists and Politicians Won't Tell You About Global Warming. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Purcell, Kristen Lee Rainie, Mitchell, Amy, Rosenstiel, Tom, and Olmstead, Kenny. 2010. “Understanding the Participatory News Consumer: How Internet and Cell Phone Users Have Turned News into a Social Experience.” Pew Research Center, Pew Internet and American Life Project. March 1: 1–51. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Online-News.aspx.Google Scholar
Romer, Christina D. 2010. “It's the Big Questions that Slow Growth.” New York Times, December 5, B4.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. 2010a. “Booming China Is Buying Up World's Coal.” New York Times, November 22, A1.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. 2010b. “With Peels and Pig Innards, a Swedish City Forgoes Coal and Oil.” New York Times, December 11, A1.Google Scholar
Russell, Cristine. 2010. “From Copenhagen to Cancun: A Challenging Year for the Climate Story.” Columbia Journalism Review, November 24, http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/from_copenhagen_to_cancun.php.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Scheiner, Eric. 2010. “Obama's Science Adviser: Don't Call it ‘Global Warming’.” CNS.com, September 14, http://www.cnsnews.com/node/75296.Google Scholar
Shanker, Thom. 2010. “Why We Might Fight, 2011 Edition.” New York Times, December 12, 3.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Defense. 2010. “Quadrennial Defense Review Report.” February, http://www.defense.gov/qdr/qdr%20as%20of%2029jan10%201600.pdf.Google Scholar
Vidal, John. 2009. “Copenhagen Media Coverage: A Perfect Storm.” Guardian, December 7, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/dec/07/copenhagen-summit-media-army.Google Scholar