Thesis (MPhil (Journalism))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Scientists predict that the Western Cape region of South Africa is likely to be one of the regions
most affected by climate change. Though the effects on the Cape Floral Kingdom are a huge
concern in terms of biodiversity, the effects of climate change are predicted to be far broader than
the natural environment. Agriculture, industry, the health sector, politics and the socio-economic
sectors among others are all likely to be significantly impacted by climate change in the coming
years. The underlying theoretical assumption of the study is that understanding how the climate question
has been understood and framed is of vital importance for how the general public will be able to respond
to lifestyle changes in aid of climate protection.This study examines the media coverage of climate
change over the period of one year in the Western Cape media context, specifically the Cape
Times, the Cape Argus and Die Burger.
Using a quantitative framing analysis as the central methodology, the study focused on six core
frames in analysing all articles relating to climate change. In addition, journalists at the respective
newspapers were interviewed to complement the textual analysis. Finally, climate change
scientists were interviewed in order to gain their perspectives of the reporting.
The study found that the environmental frame was the dominant frame chosen. The political and
scientific frames were the next two most prominent frames. It is argued that the dominance of
these frames and the comparative lack of reports featuring the human impact frame is
problematic as the environment, science and politics are all fairly abstract to the general public.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2204 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Cramer, Carolyn Maire |
| Contributors | Claassen, George, University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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