Two weeks on Twitter: COP21, smoking heads and tweets from outer space
When 196 nations met in Paris for COP21, the event naturally attracted global attention. It also fostered transnational debates on Twitter. The Internet and more specifically social media enable many-to-many communication without the limitations of physically doing so, e.g having to convene in one geographical location. I wanted to find out the extent to which COP21 […]
Civil Society Actors in the #Climatechange Debate
During the past two weeks of the UN summit, we have read about the problems that civil society actors have faced in making their voices heard. Following on from the November 13 Paris terror attacks protests and other public events were banned in the city. Under these circumstances, social media represent a means through which […]
Lost on the Road to Paris? The Framing of a 2 degree warming limit 2009-2014
As the climate negotiations in Paris near their final rounds, some might be surprised by rather contradictory developments, which relate to the much discussed 2 degree threshold. This limit aims to keep warming within 2°C of the pre-industrial average.While the emissions reduction pledges put forward by the countries ahead of COP 21 in Paris were not sufficiently ambitious to […]
Public meanings in Paris : Analysing Twitter hashtag trends from COP21
Anyone with a passing interest in climate change will know how intractably difficult international negotiations have proved in the past, reaching a low-point at Copenhagen. Whatever the outcome this week in Paris, the preponderance of ‘square brackets’ in the latest draft document (signifying those issues still to be resolved) indicates that the task remains troublesome. […]
Climate coverage across cultures: 9 types of media narratives at COP21
Before dealing with environmental news reporting academically, I was involved in the environmental movement personally, since back in the 90s. I was, for instance, at the World Social Forum which took place during the now sadly famous G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001. I was volunteering as a translator and spent several days actively participating. […]
Security measures and civil action: an analysis of media coverage at #COP21
The day after the Paris attacks, a state of emergency was declared in France. As a result, civil liberties were restrained and exceptional police powers were dedicated to regulating the movement and residence of the public. The state of emergency was promulgated by the French Assembly for a period of three months beginning on November […]
How data journalism is impacting the climate change debate
Climate conferences serve multiple purposes. Besides being important political events, they are also global media spectacles which push the topic of climate change to the top of political, scientific and public agendas. Scientific data is always at the heart of the way climate change is discussed. Whether it be weather records, measurement of greenhouse gasses in […]
Monitoring the Daily Climate Debate Online – Mid-term report
Since the official start of our CliSAP idea contest project in April, the CRG ‘Media Constructions of Climate Change’ has reached many important interim goals. A sample of online news media was assembled, currently covering 23 countries worldwide. It includes well-known media outlets like the American and international edition of the New York Times (USA), […]