IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v215y2025ics0040162525001428.html

Shifting public perception: A longitudinal analysis of national and local media narratives on nuclear and wind energy in France

Author

Listed:
  • Bally, Frédéric
  • Sebi, Carine

Abstract

In a global effort to mitigate climate change, decarbonized energies have become a paramount objective, yet face significant reluctance as relayed in the media. This research presents longitudinal topic modeling and qualitative analyses of media narratives surrounding nuclear and wind energy in France from 2005 to 2022, across national and local newspapers. Our findings reveal a notable trend: while nuclear maintains its historically positive public perceptions, wind faces persistent criticism and struggles for acceptance. Additionally, media narratives juxtapose the strengths of nuclear against the limitations of wind, thus fostering a perception of greater viability and security for nuclear. These results shed new light on the role of media in shaping public perceptions on energy technologies, providing valuable insights for stakeholders involved in the energy transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Bally, Frédéric & Sebi, Carine, 2025. "Shifting public perception: A longitudinal analysis of national and local media narratives on nuclear and wind energy in France," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:215:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525001428
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162525001428
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124111?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N, Gilmore & Burr, P.A. & Obbard, E. & Stockings, C. & Kruzic, J.J. & Seitenzahl, I. & Ata, S. & Maartensson, E. & Niven, R.K., 2025. "Discussing possible futures to neutralise nuclear energy discourse," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    2. Enevoldsen, Peter & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2016. "Examining the social acceptance of wind energy: Practical guidelines for onshore wind project development in France," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 178-184.
    3. Teräväinen, Tuula & Lehtonen, Markku & Martiskainen, Mari, 2011. "Climate change, energy security, and risk--debating nuclear new build in Finland, France and the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3434-3442, June.
    4. Nam, Hoseok & Konishi, Satoshi & Nam, Ki-Woo, 2021. "Comparative analysis of decision making regarding nuclear policy after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: Case study in Germany and Japan," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Rohe, Sebastian & Chlebna, Camilla, 2021. "A spatial perspective on the legitimacy of a technological innovation system: Regional differences in onshore wind energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Feurtey, Evariste & Ilinca, Adrian & Sakout, Anas & Saucier, Carol, 2015. "Lessons learned in France and Quebec regarding financial and legal mechanisms to develop renewable energy: A hybrid model as an acceptable solution for onshore wind?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 34-45.
    7. Kim, Younghwan & Kim, Minki & Kim, Wonjoon, 2013. "Effect of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on global public acceptance of nuclear energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 822-828.
    8. Tobias Weiss, 2021. "Uniformity or polarization? The nuclear power debate in Japanese newspapers and political coalitions, 1973–2014," Contemporary Japan, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 57-122, January.
    9. Greenberg, Michael R., 2010. "Energy parks for former nuclear weapons sites? Public preferences at six regional locations and the United States as a whole," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 5098-5107, September.
    10. Piazza, Alessandro & Perretti, Fabrizio, 2015. "Categorical Stigma and Firm Disengagement: Nuclear Power Generation in the United States, 1970-2000," OSF Preprints xqkdj, Center for Open Science.
    11. Renn, Ortwin & Marshall, Jonathan Paul, 2016. "Coal, nuclear and renewable energy policies in Germany: From the 1950s to the “Energiewende”," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 224-232.
    12. Hilary S. Boudet, 2019. "Public perceptions of and responses to new energy technologies," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(6), pages 446-455, June.
    13. Binz, Christian & Truffer, Bernhard, 2017. "Global Innovation Systems—A conceptual framework for innovation dynamics in transnational contexts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1284-1298.
    14. Baek, Haein & Chung, Ji-Bum & Yun, Gi Woong, 2021. "Differences in public perceptions of geothermal energy based on EGS technology in Korea after the Pohang earthquake: National vs. local," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    15. Alessandro Piazza & Fabrizio Perretti, 2015. "Categorical Stigma and Firm Disengagement: Nuclear Power Generation in the United States, 1970–2000," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 724-742, June.
    16. Azusa Uji & Jaehyun Song & Nives Dolšak & Aseem Prakash, 2023. "Comparing public support for nuclear and wind energy in Washington State," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(4), pages 1-21, April.
    17. Vernay, Anne-Lorène & Sebi, Carine & Arroyo, Fabrice, 2023. "Energy community business models and their impact on the energy transition: Lessons learnt from France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    18. Mathy, Sandrine & Fink, Meike & Bibas, Ruben, 2015. "Rethinking the role of scenarios: Participatory scripting of low-carbon scenarios for France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 176-190.
    19. Joas, Fabian & Pahle, Michael & Flachsland, Christian & Joas, Amani, 2016. "Which goals are driving the Energiewende? Making sense of the German Energy Transformation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 42-51.
    20. Zimmermann, Florian & Keles, Dogan, 2023. "State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    21. Alain Nada� & Olivier Labussi�re, 2015. "Wind Power and the Emergence of the Beauce Landscape, Eure-et-Loir, France," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 76-98, January.
    22. Guidolin, Mariangela & Guseo, Renato, 2016. "The German energy transition: Modeling competition and substitution between nuclear power and Renewable Energy Technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1498-1504.
    23. Martin D. Heintzelman & Carrie M. Tuttle, 2012. "Values in the Wind: A Hedonic Analysis of Wind Power Facilities," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(3), pages 571-588.
    24. Laali, A-R. & Benard, M., 1999. "French wind power generation programme EOLE 2005 Results of the first call for tenders," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 805-810.
    25. Adriane Schmidt, 2017. "Need for a wind of change? Use of offshore wind messages by stakeholders and the media in Germany and their effects on public acceptance," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(8), pages 1391-1411, August.
    26. Dehler-Holland, Joris & Okoh, Marvin & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "Assessing technology legitimacy with topic models and sentiment analysis – The case of wind power in Germany," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    27. repec:osf:osfxxx:xqkdj_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Markard, Jochen & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2016. "Analysis of complementarities: Framework and examples from the energy transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 63-75.
    29. Cherp, Aleh & Vinichenko, Vadim & Jewell, Jessica & Suzuki, Masahiro & Antal, Miklós, 2017. "Comparing electricity transitions: A historical analysis of nuclear, wind and solar power in Germany and Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 612-628.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fanghella, Valeria & Schleich, Joachim & Sebi, Carine, 2026. "Populism and support of onshore wind energy: Explaining different perspectives from the left and right," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    2. Soto, Gonzalo H. & Zambrano-Monserrate, Manuel A. & Usman, Ojonugwa, 2026. "Tariffs and the transition: A study on the effects of global trade on energy mix diversification," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    3. Cosimo Magazzino & Umberto Monarca & Ernesto Cassetta & Alberto Costantiello & Tulia Gattone, 2025. "Uncovering CO 2 Drivers with Machine Learning in High- and Upper-Middle-Income Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-21, October.
    4. Girts Karnitis & Maris Pukis & Janis Bicevskis & Edgars Diebelis & Stanislavs Gendelis & Edvins Karnitis & Ugis Sarma, 2025. "Balancing the Interests of Various Community Groups in Local Government Policy on the Energy Performance of Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Lindvall, Daniel & Elwing, Erik & Marzelius, Milla & Harring, Niklas, 2026. "Wind energy acceptability across five major economies: A comparative analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Weiss, Daniel & Nemeczek, Fabian, 2021. "A text-based monitoring tool for the legitimacy and guidance of technological innovation systems," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Hsiao, Chih-Tung & Liu, Chung-Shu & Chang, Dong-Shang & Chen, Chun-Cheng, 2018. "Dynamic modeling of the policy effect and development of electric power systems: A case in Taiwan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 377-387.
    3. Minhyuk Jeong & Zhuang Chu & Kwangwon Ahn, 2026. "The impact of nuclear energy on social welfare and the future of renewable energy: episode from South Korea," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Wiktor Hebda & Matúš Mišík, 2024. "In Search of Energy Security: Nuclear Energy Development in the Visegrad Group Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Dehler-Holland, Joris, 2025. "From virtuous to vicious cycles – towards a life cycle model of technology deployment policies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(7).
    6. Bryant Ashley Hudson & Karen D. W. Patterson & Thomas J. Roulet & Wesley S. Helms & Kimberly Elsbach, 2022. "Organizational Stigma: Taking Stock and Opening New Areas for Research," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(8), pages 1899-1914, December.
    7. Bessi, Alessandro & Guidolin, Mariangela & Manfredi, Piero, 2021. "The role of gas on future perspectives of renewable energy diffusion: Bridging technology or lock-in?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Dehler-Holland, Joris & Schumacher, Kira & Fichtner, Wolf, 2021. "Topic Modeling Uncovers Shifts in Media Framing of the German Renewable Energy Act," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2(1).
    9. Karoliina Isoaho & Jochen Markard, 2020. "The Politics of Technology Decline: Discursive Struggles over Coal Phase‐Out in the UK," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(3), pages 342-368, May.
    10. Kriechbaum, Michael & Posch, Alfred & Hauswiesner, Angelika, 2021. "Hype cycles during socio-technical transitions: The dynamics of collective expectations about renewable energy in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    11. Latré, Edwin & Perko, Tanja & Thijssen, Peter, 2017. "Public opinion change after the Fukushima nuclear accident: The role of national context revisited," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 124-133.
    12. Rohe, Sebastian & Oltmer, Marie & Wolter, Hendrik & Gmeiner, Nina & Tschersich , Julia, 2022. "Forever Niche: Why do organic vegetable varieties not diffuse?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2022/8, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    13. Joalland, Olivier & Mahieu, Pierre-Alexandre, 2023. "Developing large-scale offshore wind power programs: A choice experiment analysis in France," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    14. Rohe, Sebastian & Chlebna, Camilla, 2021. "A spatial perspective on the legitimacy of a technological innovation system: Regional differences in onshore wind energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    15. Schriever, Marlene & Halstrup, Dominik, 2018. "Exploring the adoption in transitioning markets: Empirical findings and implications on energy storage solutions-acceptance in the German manufacturing industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 460-468.
    16. Yizhe Dong & Yaorong Liu & Meng Wang & Gaofeng Zou, 2026. "The Role of Media in Regulatory Oversight: Evidence From Comment Letters," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1011-1035, August.
    17. Dehler-Holland, Joris & Okoh, Marvin & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "Assessing technology legitimacy with topic models and sentiment analysis – The case of wind power in Germany," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    18. Mirjam D. Werner & Maria Carmen Punzi & A. J. K. Turkenburg, 2024. "Period Power: Organizational Stigma, Multimodality, and Social Entrepreneurship in the Menstrual Products Industry," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 2137-2180, July.
    19. Augustine, Grace L. & Piazza, Alessandro, 2021. "Category Evolution under Conditions of Stigma: The Segregation of Abortion Provision into Specialist Clinics in the United States," OSF Preprints fzqa6, Center for Open Science.
    20. Xu, Yuehua & Li, Jiatao & Wang, Yimin & Xin, Li & Zhao, Haichuan, 2025. "Exploring Corporate Philanthropy, Home Country Foreign Aid, and Country of Origin-Based Stigma for Multinational Enterprises: An Experimental Study," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 60(3).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:215:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525001428. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.