Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

How do Canadian media report climate change impacts on health? A newspaper review

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Research on climate change media coverage is growing. Few studies, however, have investigated how the media portrays climate change impacts on human health. This review, therefore, presents a quantitative spatiotemporal analysis of Canadian newspaper coverage of climate change impacts on health between 2005 and 2015. Using the ProQuest® and Eureka® databases, a multiphase systematic review strategy was employed to identify relevant English and French articles from two national and six regional high-circulation newspapers. Quantitative and qualitative data were extracted from 145 articles and analyzed to characterize the range, extent, and nature of climate-health newspaper coverage in Canada and to compare these characteristics by region and over time. Coverage varied by region, with the highest proportion of climate-health coverage in Northern Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut). Over time, there was a decreasing publication frequency trend. Almost all articles described negative climate change impacts on health, with a predominant focus on infectious and chronic noninfectious diseases; however, less than half of the articles discussed climate change solutions. These trends suggest that current media coverage might not drive widespread public support for policies and actions needed to protect against projected climate-health risks. Consequently, as climate change continues to challenge human health, increasing media emphasis on climate change impacts on human health, as well as a shift toward enabling and empowering climate change communication, in which viable mitigation and adaptation options are emphasized, could help to spur action to reduce climate change health risks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For the purposes of this paper, we consider “coverage” to include articles that focused on climate change impacts on health, reflected by its mention within the first paragraph of the article.

  2. \( \kappa =\frac{p_o-{p}_e}{1-{p}_e} \) where po is the relative observed agreement between reviewers, and pe is the hypothetical probability of chance agreement, using the observed data to calculate the probabilities of each reviewer randomly seeing each category.

  3. The Kappa value for full article screening was low compared to that for the other two stages due to the high percentage of agreement for this stage. Due to the First Paradox of Kappa, a high percentage of agreement, which inherently occurs when the outcome (i.e., inclusion) is rare, can convert a high percentage of observed agreement into a low value of Kappa (Feinstein and Cicchetti 1990). Consequently, this lower Kappa score does not necessarily indicate low overall agreement between reviewers (Feinstein and Cicchetti 1990).

References

  • Abma D (2012) Global warming, spread of infected ticks linked. Vancouver Sun

  • Ahchong K, Dodds R (2012) Anthropogenic climate change coverage in two Canadian newspapers, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, from 1988 to 2007. Environ Sci Pol 15:48–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antilla L (2005) Climate of scepticism: US newspaper coverage of the science of climate change. Glob Environ Chang 15:338–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belfer E, Ford J, Maillet M (2017) Representation of indigenous peoples in climate change reporting. Clim Chang 145:57–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biltereyst D (2003) Globalisation, americanisation and politicisation of media research. In: Hjarv S (ed) Media in a globalized society. Museum Tusculanam Press, Copenhagan, pp 55–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackwell T (2010) Smog danger inflated, climate scientist says; no pollution link. Natl Post

  • Blood D, Phillips P (1997) Economic headline news on the agenda: new approaches to understanding causes and effects. In: McCombs et al (eds) Communication and democracy: exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory. Laurence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, pp 97–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Boykoff MT (2007a) Flogging a dead norm? Newspaper coverage of anthropogenic climate change in the United States and United Kingdom from 2003 to 2006. Area 39:470–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boykoff MT (2007b) From convergence to contention: United States mass media representations of anthropogenic climate change science. Trans Inst Br Geogr 32:477–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boykoff MT (2008) Lost in translation? United States television news coverage of anthropogenic climate change, 1995-2004. Clim Chang 86:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun V, Clarke V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol 3:77–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clayton S, Manning CM, Krygsman K, Speiser M (2017) Mental health and our changing climate: impacts, implications, and guidance. Washington DC

  • Costello A, Abbas M, Allen A et al (2009) Managing the health effects of climate change. Lancet 373:1693–1733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Amato G, Holgate ST, Pawankar R et al (2015) Meteorological conditions, climate change, new emerging factors, and asthma and related allergic disorders. A statement of the World Allergy Organization. World Allergy Organ J 8:1–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidsen C, Graham D (2014) Newspaper reporting on climate change, green energy and carbon reduction strategies across Canada 1999–2009. Am Rev Can Stud 44:151–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dedoose (2016) Dedoose (c). Manhattan Beach, CA, USA

  • Depoux A, Hémono M, Puig-Malet S et al (2017) Communicating climate change and health in the media. Public Health Rev 38:1–4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-016-0044-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dotson DM, Jacobson SK, Kaid LL, Carlton JS (2012) Media coverage of climate change in Chile: a content analysis of conservative and liberal newspapers. Environ Commun A J Nat Cult 6:64–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evidence Partners (2016) DistrillerSR (c). Ottawa, ON, Canada

  • Feinstein A, Cicchetti D (1990) High agreement but low kappa: I. the problems of two paradoxes. J Clin Epidemiol 43:543–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman L, Hart PS (2016) Using political efficacy messages to increase climate activism: the mediating role of emotions. Sci Commun 38:99–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman L, Hart PS (2018) Is there any hope? How climate change news imagery and text influence audience emotions and support for climate mitigation policies. Risk Anal 38:585–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, Berrang-Ford L (eds) (2011) Climate change adaptation in developed nations: from theory to practice. Springer Science & Business Media, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, Berrang-Ford L, King M, Furgal C (2010a) Vulnerability of aboriginal health systems in Canada to climate change. Glob Environ Chang 20:668–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, Cunsolo Willox A, Chatwood S et al (2014) Adapting to the effects of climate change on Inuit health. Am J Public Health 104:e9–e17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, King D (2015) Coverage and framing of climate change adaptation in the media: a review of influential north American newspapers during 1993-2013. Environ Sci Pol 48:137–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, Pearce T, Furgal C et al (2010b) Climate change policy response for Canada’s Inuit population: the importance of and opportunities for adaptation. Glob Environ Chang 20:177–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golan G (2006) Inter-media agenda setting and global news coverage: assessing the influence of the New York Times on three network television news programs. Journal Stud 7:323–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Government of Canada (2016) The pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change. Ottawa, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoppe DJ, de Sa D, Simunovic N et al (2014) The learning curve for hip arthroscopy: a systematic review. Arthrosc J Arthrosc Relat Surg 30:389–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Landis JR, Koch GG (1977) The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33:159–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanovaz MJ, Dufour MM, Shah S (2015) Newspaper coverage of autism treatment in Canada: 10-year trends (2004-2013). Can J Psychiatr 60:329–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Vedlitz A, Alston L (2008) Regional news portrayals of global warming and climate change. Environ Sci Pol 11:379–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMichael AJ, Woodruff RE, Hales S (2006) Climate change and human health: present and future risks. Lancet 367:859–869

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moser SC (2016) Reflections on climate change communication research and practice in the second decade of the 21st century: what more is there to say? Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 7:345–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers TA, Nisbet MC, Maibach EW, Leiserowitz AA (2012) A public health frame arouses hopeful emotions about climate change: a letter. Clim Chang 113:1105–1112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newspapers Canada (2016) New in 2016. http://newspaperscanada.ca/ad-resources/newspapers-247/. Accessed 25 Jan 2017

  • Newspapers Canada (2015) Circulation report: daily newspapers

  • Nisbet MC (2009) Communicating climate change: why frames matter for public engagement. Environ Sci Policy Sustain Dev 51:12–23. https://doi.org/10.3200/ENVT.51.2.12-23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill S, Nicholson-Cole S (2009) “Fear won’t do it”: promoting positive engagement with climate change through visual and iconic representations. Sci Commun 30:355–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ockwell D, Whitmarsh L, O’Neill S (2015) Reorienting climate change communication for effective mitigation. Sci Commun 30:305–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogden NH, St-Onge L, Barker IK et al (2008) Risk maps for range expansion of the Lyme disease vector, Ixodes scapularis, in Canada now and with climate change. Int J Health Geogr 7:24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prescott S, Logan A (2018) Larger than life: injecting hope into the planetary health paradigm. Challenges 9:13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schäfer M, Berglez P, Wessler H et al (2016) Investigating mediated climate change communication: a best-practice guide. Jonkoping, Sweden

    Google Scholar 

  • Schäfer MS, Schlichting I (2014) Media representations of climate change: a meta-analysis of the research field. Environ Commun 8:142–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt A, Ivanova A, Schäfer MS (2013) Media attention for climate change around the world: a comparative analysis of newspaper coverage in 27 countries. Glob Environ Chang 23:1233–1248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuldt JP, Roh S (2014) Media frames and cognitive accessibility: what do “global warming” and “climate change” evoke in partisan minds? Environ Commun 8:529–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith K, Woodward A, Campbell-Lendrum D, et al (2014) Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits. In: Field C, Barros V, Dokken D, et al. (eds) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, pp 709–754

  • Smith N, Leiserowitz A (2014) The role of emotion in global warming policy support and opposition. Risk Anal 34:937–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soroka SN (2002) Issue attributes and agenda-setting by media, the public, and policymakers in Canada. Int J Public Opin Res 14:264–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Canada (2015a) Geographical region of Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-195-x/2011001/geo/region/region-eng.htm. Accessed 17 Jan 2017

  • Statistics Canada (2015b) Number and distribution of the population reporting an aboriginal identity and percentage of aboriginal people in the population, Canada, provinces and territories, 2011. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-011-x/2011001/tbl/tbl02-eng.cfm. Accessed 21 Jan 2017

  • Statistics Canada (2016) Census Profile, 2016 Census. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=&Code2=&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=01. Accessed 17 Jan 2017

  • The R Foundation (2016) R (c). Vienna, Austria

  • Thomson Reuters (2016) EndNote TM Basic. Albuquerque, NM, USA. Evidence Partners (2016) DistrillerSR (c). Ottawa, ON, Canada.

  • Thorpe J (2007) Coming in from the cold: global warming may spell opportunity, not disaster, for Canada. Natl. Post

  • Trombley J, Chalupka S, Anderko L (2017) Climate change and mental health. Am J Nurs 117:44–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts N, Adger WN, Agnolucci P et al (2015) Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. Lancet 386:1861–1914

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts N, Adger WN, Ayeb-Karlsson S et al (2017) The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change. Lancet 389:1151–1164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weathers M, Maibach EW, Nisbet M (2017) Communicating the public health risks of climate change. Oxford Res Encycl Clim Sci

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Taysham Shaw for her help in article screening, Judy Wanner and Ali Versluis for their help developing the search string, and Carlee Wright for creating Fig. 2.

Funding

This work was financially supported by a CIHR Team Grant under the Environments and Health Signature Initiative, as well as ArcticNet. Funding provided by an Ontario Veterinary College scholarship (KBW), and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (KBW) also contributed to this project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Nia King, Katherine E. Bishop-Williams, Sabrina Beauchamp & Sherilee L. Harper

  2. School of Nursing, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Sabrina Beauchamp

  3. Priestly International Centre for Climate, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    James D. Ford & Lea Berrang-Ford

  4. Labrador Institute of Memorial University, P.O. Box 490, Station B., Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, A0P 1E0, Canada

    Ashlee Cunsolo

  5. IHACC Research Team: Cesar Carcamo (School of Public Health and Administration, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), Lima, Peru), Victoria L. Edge (Office of the Chief Science Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada, Guelph, Canada), Alejandro Llanos (School of Public Health and Administration, UPCH, Lima, Peru), Shuaib Lwasa (Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Climatic Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda), Didacus Namanya, Ugandan Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda

    IHACC Research Team

  6. School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 116 St. and 85 Ave., Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada

    Sherilee L. Harper

Authors
  1. Nia King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katherine E. Bishop-Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sabrina Beauchamp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. James D. Ford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lea Berrang-Ford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ashlee Cunsolo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. IHACC Research Team
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Sherilee L. Harper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

IHACC Research Team:

Cesar Carcamo, School of Public Health and Administration, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), Lima, Peru

Victoria L. Edge, Office of the Chief Science Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada, Guelph, Canada

Alejandro Llanos, School of Public Health and Administration, UPCH, Lima, Peru

Shuaib Lwasa, Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Climatic Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Didacus Namanya, Ugandan Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Nia King or Sherilee L. Harper.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

King, N., Bishop-Williams, K.E., Beauchamp, S. et al. How do Canadian media report climate change impacts on health? A newspaper review. Climatic Change 152, 581–596 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2311-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2311-2

Search

Navigation