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Climate journalism in a changing media ecosystem: Assessing the production of climate change‐related news around the world

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  • Mike S. Schäfer
  • James Painter

Abstract

Climate journalism gathers, evaluates, selects, and presents information about climate change, its characteristics, causes, and impacts, as well as ways to mitigate it, and distributes them via technical media to general and specialist audiences. It is an important source of information about climate change for many people. Currently, however, the media ecosystem surrounding climate journalism is changing, with economic conditions becoming more strenuous, more communicators joining the debate, and social media changing the affordances of communication. This advanced review synthesizes scholarship on both the status quo and the changes taking place in climate journalism in the Global North and the Global South. While it demonstrates that the scholarship has distinct gaps and biases, it does distill several robust findings. First, it shows that the organizational embedding of climate journalism is changing, with specialist reporters becoming scarce and working under more strenuous conditions and with the emergence of online‐born news media and niche sites specializing in climate journalism. It also suggests that few specialist climate journalists exist in the Global South. Second, it demonstrates that the range of roles available to climate journalists has diversified, with a shift from “gatekeeping” to “curating” roles. Third, it indicates that climate journalists’ relationships with their sources have changed. Elite sources have been, and still are, important, but their composition has shifted from scientists to a broader range of stakeholders. Correspondingly, there seems to be a strong and rising influence of stakeholder PR on climate journalism. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Communication

Suggested Citation

  • Mike S. Schäfer & James Painter, 2021. "Climate journalism in a changing media ecosystem: Assessing the production of climate change‐related news around the world," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:12:y:2021:i:1:n:e675
    DOI: 10.1002/wcc.675
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    1. Warren Pearce & Sabine Niederer & Suay Melisa Özkula & Natalia Sánchez Querubín, 2019. "The social media life of climate change: Platforms, publics, and future imaginaries," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(2), March.
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    1. Linlin Liang & Hongli Wang & Fei Li, 2025. "Representing the other: a critical discourse analysis of British media coverage of China’s role in climate change," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Sonny Rosenthal & Pengya Ai, 2024. "Media use, interpersonal communication, and personal relevance as external and internal representations of climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(11), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Rachel Wetts & Hanna E. Morris & Maxwell Boykoff & Brenda McNally & James Painter & Mary Sanford & Emily P. Diamond & Marc Esteve-del-Valle & Loredana Loy & Kelly E. Perry & Urooj S. Raja & Robin Tsch, 2025. "Climate media amidst technopolitical change: challenges, transformations, and new directions for research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(6), pages 1-23, June.
    4. Shreya Dubey & Marijn H. C. Meijers & Eline S. Smit & Edith G. Smit, 2024. "Beyond climate change? Environmental discourse on the planetary boundaries in Twitter networks," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 177(5), pages 1-23, May.
    5. Marcell Sebestyén, 2025. "Focal points and blind spots of human-centered AI: AI risks in written online media," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Swarnalakshmi Umamaheswaran & Vandita Dar & Jagadish Thaker, 2022. "The Evolution of Climate Change Reporting in Business Media: Longitudinal Analysis of a Business Newspaper," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Leszek S. Dąbrowski & Stefania Środa-Murawska & Paweł Smoliński & Jadwiga Biegańska, 2022. "Rural–Urban Divide: Generation Z and Pro-Environmental Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, December.

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