The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Polarizing news? Representations of threat and efficacy in leading US newspapers’ coverage of climate change
Open accessAbstract
This study examines non-editorial news coverage in leading US newspapers as a source of ideological differences on climate change. A quantitative content analysis compared how the threat of climate change and efficacy for actions to address it were represented in climate change coverage across The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today between 2006 and 2011. Results show that The Wall Street Journal was least likely to discuss the impacts of and threat posed by climate change and most likely to include negative efficacy information and use conflict and negative economic framing when discussing actions to address climate change. The inclusion of positive efficacy information was similar across newspapers. Also, across all newspapers, climate impacts and actions to address climate change were more likely to be discussed separately than together in the same article. Implications for public engagement and ideological polarization are discussed.
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“e.g., the Wall Street Journal, compared to other U.S. newspapers, was least likely to discuss the threats and most likely to include negative efficacy information concerning climate change.”
From When debates break apart: discursive polarization as a multi-dimensional divergence emerging in and through communication (2023) · cites this paper as Feldman et al. (2015)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Feldman, L., Hart, P. S., & Milosevic, T.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- University of Oslo, Norway
- Corresponding author
- Feldman, Lauren
- Venue
- Public Understanding of Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-07-30
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 481-497
- ISSN
- 0963-6625 (ISSN-L)
- 1361-6609
- OpenAlex
- W2280105579
- Cited by
- 172
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 23.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Public Understanding of Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Social Sciences › Communication › News Media Framing and Political Communication
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Keywords
- media coverage of climate change, ideological polarization, threat representation, climate policy, economic framing, conflict framing, climate change impacts, American newspapers, public engagement with climate change
- MeSH terms
- Mass Media, Newspapers as Topic, United States, Journalism, Climate Change
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