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Framing Climate Change: A Multi-level Model

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Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 1

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

Much framing research has focused on climate change, the threat of the 21st century. Drawing on theoretical conceptualizations, however, the authors argue that these empirical studies largely fail to provide more thorough insights: They use frame as a ‘catch-all term’ or do not account for the hegemonic nature of framing. Therefore, attempting to add more depth and breadth to the research on climate change framing, the authors have analyzed three mainstream and two alternative news outlets in northern Belgium. This paper will discuss the five detected frames and their respective ideologically coloured ‘subframes’ in detail, providing comprehensive frame matrices. Of particular interest are the similarities and differences among the subframes, for example, regarding the views on mitigative/adaptive action. These stem from the overarching Anthropocentric and Biocentric Masterframes. Most importantly, this research is one of the first to integrate framing and hegemony research, while also making tangible the deconstruction-reconstruction frames of Brulle (2010).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies (Applied Linguistics), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 5 (Room 308), 1050, Brussels (Elsene), Belgium

    Renée Moernaut, Jelle Mast & Luc Pauwels

  2. Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, Sint-Jacobsstraat 2 (Room S.M.479), 2000, Antwerp, Belgium

    Renée Moernaut, Jelle Mast & Luc Pauwels

Authors
  1. Renée Moernaut
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  2. Jelle Mast
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  3. Luc Pauwels
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Renée Moernaut .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Orestiada, Greece

    Evangelos Manolas

  3. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  4. Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ulisses M. Azeiteiro

  5. University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Henry McGhie

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Moernaut, R., Mast, J., Pauwels, L. (2018). Framing Climate Change: A Multi-level Model. In: Leal Filho, W., Manolas, E., Azul, A., Azeiteiro, U., McGhie, H. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 1. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69838-0_14

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