Approaching climate change to society from the media: formative elements in Spanish digital newspapers

Aproximação da mudança climática à sociedade pela mídia: elementos formativos na imprensa digital espanhola

Abstract

On the basis of media´s responsibility with regard of the environment, this study focuses on a new aspect within the research about media coverage of climate change: the presence of elements that would contribute to make this phenomenon known and understood, and to guide readers on how to individually tackle it. The method used was content analysis of digital editions of the most widely read general information newspapers in 2017. Findings suggest that newspapers hardly include simple explanations about climate change; they contextualize the phenomenon addressing its causes and effects, but these still prevail over the former; they provide citizens scarce guidance on how to combat it; and they make limited use of visual resources. These data provide an interesting starting point for future studies on the effectiveness of formative elements to encourage readers’ involvement.

Keywords:
Climate change; media; environmental journalism; environmental education; formative elements; newspapers; Spain