‘Broad consensus across the divide’: rhetorical constructions of climate change in mainstream news media
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Date
2019-05
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Royal Society of New Zealand
Rights
(c) 2018 The Author/s
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Abstract
The links between science and policy are navigated prominently in the media. The internet provides a forum for discussion of climate change, allowing lay people to enter the debate. In this paper, rhetorical analysis was used to analyse online news articles and comments from the public following two major climate-related decisions in New Zealand. This analysis demonstrates how arguments regarding climate change are built and defended. Identifying strategies invoked by those that occupy a majority or minority position within public discourse on climate change reveals how such arguments take on rhetorical force, providing the basis for establishing claims and counter-arguments. Understanding the rhetorical constructions of such positions can reveal why particular arguments might gain power, opening the way for a more knowledgeable and informed positioning of individuals, organisations, and scientific knowledge to emerge in public debates on climate change.
Description
Keywords
climate change, news, constructions
Citation
Crawford L, Breheny M, Mansvelt J, Hill S. (2018). ‘Broad consensus across the divide’: rhetorical constructions of climate change in mainstream news media. Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal Of Social Sciences Online. 1. (pp. 23-37).