Abstract
The publication of the IPCC AR5 reports in 2013 and 2014 offers a unique case study for capturing the role of journalism in global communication. As the IPCC’s years of work were condensed first into the full reports (WGs) and then the Summaries for Policymakers (SPMs), enormous amounts of information and scientific insight were put into action at the moment of publication. This moment initiated a partially routinized and partially unexpected process that mobilized a transnational infrastructure of communication. Identifying some of the key features of this structure and understanding its dynamics is the core target of this study. In this chapter, we provide a first view of what happened at the global level as the findings of scientists and the shared interpretations of the IPCC’s scientific-political actors were compressed through the needle hole of publicity.
Bibliography
Barkemeyer, R., Dessai, S., Monge-Sanz, B., Gabriella Renzi, B., & Napolitano, G. (2015). Linguistic analysis of IPCC summaries for policymakers and associated coverage. Nature Climate Change, 6, 311–316.
Fraser, N. (2014). Transnationalizing the public sphere: On the legitimacy and efficiency of public opinion in a post-Westphalian world. In K. Nash (Ed.), Transnationalizing the public sphere (pp. 8–42). Cambridge: Polity.
Hulme, M. (2009a). Mediated messages about climate change: Reporting the IPCC fourth assessment in the UK print media. In T. Boyce & J. Lewis (Eds.), Climate change and the media (pp. 117–128). London: Peter Lang.
IPCC. (2013). Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., & Midgley, P. M. (Eds.), Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Summary for policymakers. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
IPCC. (2014, March 31). IPCC report: A changing climate creates pervasive risks but opportunities exist for effective responses. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/ar5/pr_wg2/140330_pr_wgII_spm_en.pdf
O’Neill, S. J., Kurz, T., Williams, H. T., Wiersma, B., & Boykoff, M. (2015). Dominant frames in legacy and social media coverage of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Nature Climate Change, 5, 380–385.
Painter, J. (2013). Climate change in the media: Reporting risk and uncertainty. Oxford, UK: I.B. Tauris and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Painter, J. (2014). Disaster averted? Television coverage of the 2013/14 IPCC’s climate change reports. Oxford, UK: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Painter, J. (2015b). The effectiveness of the IPCC communication: A survey of (mainly) UK-based users. Advance paper submitted to the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication. IPCC, Oslo, Norway. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/meeting_documentation/meeting_documentation_ipcc_workshops_and_expert_meetings.shtml
Schudson, M. (2003). The sociology of news. New York: Norton & Co.
Sokona, Y., Edenhofer, O., Pichs-Madruga, R., Eickemeier, P., & Minx, J. (2016). Communicating the science of climate change mitigation: AR5 experiences from Working Group III. Advance paper submitted to the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication. IPCC, Oslo, Norway. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/meeting_documentation/meeting_documentation_ipcc_workshops_and_expert_meetings.shtml
Warner, M. (2002). Publics and counterpublics. New York: Zone Books.
Whittington, E. (2016). Translating IPCC AR5 to business audiences. Advance paper submitted to the IPCC Expert Meeting on Communication. IPCC, Oslo, Norway. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/meeting_documentation/meeting_documentation_ipcc_workshops_and_expert_meetings.shtml
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kunelius, R., Yagodin, D. (2017). Attention, Access and the Global Space of Interpretation: Media Dynamics of the IPCC AR5 Launch Year. In: Kunelius, R., Eide, E., Tegelberg, M., Yagodin, D. (eds) Media and Global Climate Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52321-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52321-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52320-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52321-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)