Research

Posted on 7. February 201818. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

New paper published: Echo Chambers of Denial: Explaining User Comments on Climate Change

The paper “Echo Chambers of Denial: Explaining User Comments on Climate Change” was published in Environmental Communication. The study identifies factors that foster comments that are sceptical or supportive of basic assumptions of anthropogenic climate change, drawing on online news in the US, the UK, Germany, India, and Switzerland. The results show that users adapt to the dominant opinion within the respective media outlet: user comment sections serve as echo chambers rather than as corrective mechanisms. Climate change denial is more visible in user comment sections in countries where the climate change debate reflects the scientific consensus on climate change and user comments create niches of denial.

The full paper is available online.

The paper was published by Stefanie Walter, PhD, Prof. Dr. Michael Brüggemann and Prof. Dr. Sven Engesser.

Posted on 7. February 201814. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

New paper published: From “Knowledge Brokers” to Opinion Makers: How Physical Presence Affected Scientists’ Twitter Use During the COP21 Climate Change Conference

The paper “From “Knowledge Brokers” to Opinion Makers: How Physical Presence Affected Scientists’ Twitter Use During the COP21 Climate Change Conference” was published in the International Journal of Communication. This study investigates the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference summit and examines scientists’ social media use by analyzing “digital traces” that scientists left on social media during the summit. Using geolocated tweets, we compare the Twitter use of scientists who attended the conference with those who did not. Combining automated, quantitative, and qualitative content analysis, the study shows how scientists participating in the conference provided live reporting and formed a transnational network. Scientists at the conference and elsewhere engaged in political advocacy, indicating a shift toward a new pattern of hybrid science communication, which includes characteristics that have formerly been attributed to journalism and advocacy.

The full paper is available online.

The paper was published by Stefanie Walter, PhD, Fenja De Silva-Schmidt, M.A., and Prof. Dr. Michael Brüggemann.

Posted on 19. December 201718. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

One Year of Climate Change on Twitter – One Year of Trump Arousing Attention?

Review of Twitter communication on climate change in 2017: Which events triggered tweets about climate change and to which domains do these tweets link to?

by Ines Lörcher

The analysis of our online media monitor (OMM) reveals that the number of climate change-related tweets has risen compared to 2016. Still – and this year even more – Donald Trump’s statements and action trigger most Twitter communication on climate change. This year’s highest peaks of attention were related to climate political events in the USA. Most tweets were published on 2nd June 2017, one day after US-president Donald Trump declared that the USA will quit Paris climate agreement. Continue reading One Year of Climate Change on Twitter – One Year of Trump Arousing Attention?

Posted on 10. October 201718. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

New paper published in nature climate change

The paper `The appeasement effect of a United Nations climate summit on the German public´ was published in the current issue of the journal nature climate change. It presents first findings from the research project `Down to Earth´, directed by Prof. Dr. Michael Brüggemann and funded by the cluster of Excellence `CliSAP´.

Continue reading New paper published in nature climate change

Posted on 27. September 20178. September 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

Down to Earth – Publications

Mahl, Daniela, Brüggemann, Michael, Guenther, Lars, & De Silva-Schmidt, Fenja (2020). Public opinion at a tipping point: Germany’s path to engaging with climate change. Down to Earth Working Paper, March 2020. DOI: 10.25592/uhhfdm.851

De Silva-Schmidt, Fenja & Brüggemann, Michael (2019). Klimapolitik in den Medien – Das Publikum erwartet mehr. Befunde einer Befragung zu den UN-Klimagipfeln 2015 und 2018. Media Perspektiven 3/2019, 107-113. Available online

Continue reading Down to Earth – Publications

Posted on 10. July 201718. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team — Leave a comment

New team member: Ines Lörcher

Our research group welcomes Ines Lörcher in our team. Since July 2017, Ines Lörcher is working as a research associate in our project on “Redefining the Boundaries of Science and Journalism”. She previously worked in a research project on “Climate change from the Audience Perspective” (funded by the German Research Foundation) under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Irene Neverla at the University of Hamburg from 2012-2017. She holds M.A. degrees in Communications, Political Science and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Mainz, Germany. She is currently working on a PhD project on the public’s appropriation of climate change. MORE

Posted on 30. June 201718. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

Workshop: Redefining the Boundaries of Science and Journalism in the Debate on Climate Change

by Fenja De Silva-Schmidt

As a kick-off for a new research project, the research team of Prof. Michael Brüggemann organized a workshop at the University of Hamburg from June 21 to 23. The team discussed the changing roles of science and politics in times of post-normal science communication with national and international guests.

Continue reading Workshop: Redefining the Boundaries of Science and Journalism in the Debate on Climate Change

Posted on 6. June 201718. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

ICA conference participation and video interview

At the International Communication Associations’ annual conference, which took place in San Diego/USA this year, researchers from our team presented first results from the Down to Earth project (“Climate Engagement in a Digital Age: Exploring the Drivers of Participation in Climate Discourse Online in the Context of COP21”) as well as research on how the COP21 was reported on Twitter (“Opportunity Makes Opinion Leaders: Analyzing the Role of First-Hand Information for Opinion Leadership in Social Media Networks”).

Besides, Michael Brüggemann was invited to a spontaneous interview with the online video literary magazine GuerillaReads, who “invited ICA presenters to share their work guerrilla-style. ”

More information and all other interviews can be found on their site.

Posted on 3. January 201718. August 2022 by Climate Matters Editorial Team

New Publication: Beyond false balance

Finally, the article „Beyond false balance: How interpretive journalism shapes media coverage of climate change” is available online. The article is an outcome of our project “Framing Climate Change” and was published by the journal Global Environmental Change.

Continue reading New Publication: Beyond false balance

Category: Research