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Global Climate Change, Global Public Sphere? Media Attention for Climate Change in 27 Countries

  • Chapter
Comparing Political Communication across Time and Space

Abstract

Societal problems and political competences have transnationalized in recent years (see Knill, 2001; Wessels, 1997), as have technological possi- bilities and the economic incentives for transnational mass communication (see Löffelholz and Hepp, 2002: 15; Parks and Kumar, 2003). Consequently, the question of a trans nationalizing of the public sphere (or spheres) has gained importance in communications (and in political science, e.g. Wessler et al., 2008; Koopmans and Statham, 2010b; Risse, 2010). This question is of particular relevance, in our view, to the case of anthropogenic climate change — a global phenomenon in its causes, effects and discussed solu- tions (e.g. Beck, 2007: 34). Therefore, we will examine whether a transna- tional public sphere is emerging around this issue. As ‘[virtually no other approach has the potential to bring communication studies further forward in the age of transnational!zation’ (Esser, 2013: 113), we will use a compara- tive approach for our study. Compared to other studies, we will analyze a rather large number of cases, 27 countries from all continents, going beyond the scope of many comparative analyses.1

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Authors
  1. Ana Ivanova
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  2. Andreas Schmidt
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  3. Mike S. Schäfer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Complutense Madrid, Spain

    María José Canel

  2. University of Leeds, UK

    Katrin Voltmer

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© 2014 Ana Ivanova, Andreas Schmidt and Mike S. Schäfer

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Ivanova, A., Schmidt, A., Schäfer, M.S. (2014). Global Climate Change, Global Public Sphere? Media Attention for Climate Change in 27 Countries. In: Canel, M.J., Voltmer, K. (eds) Comparing Political Communication across Time and Space. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137366474_13

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