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Blogging and tweeting climate changein South AfricaTanja Bosch

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Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies Volume 33 (1) 2012ISSN Print 0256-0054/Online 1942-0773 © 2012 iMasaDOI: 10.1080/02560054.2011.636825 pp 44–53

Blogging and tweeting climate change in South Africa

Tanja Bosch

AbstractIt is widely agreed that the mainstream mass media play an important role in the climate change debate by providing coverage and thus placing the issue on the public agenda; by providing their audiences with the key aspects of the debate and information related to mitigation and adaption; and, to a lesser extent, by driving policy agendas. Much research on media coverage of climate change is located in the North; and ‘the media’ is often taken to mean mainstream print newspaper media. As the body of literature exploring links between the media and climate change grows, there is a glaring absence of studies about and from the global South, and of a focus on ‘new’ forms of journalism and social media. With the global decline of newspaper circulation internationally and in South Africa, this article argues for an increased focus on digital journalism in the examination of the media coverage of climate change. Journalists’ blogs on the Mail & Guardian newspaper’s Thought Leader site, and Twitter newsfeeds are analysed qualitatively to argue that while there is some similarity in the coverage between print and online media, the latter has the potential to reach audiences more effectively and immediately, with the growth of the mobile Internet in South Africa.

Keywords: blogging, climate change journalism, digital journalism, South Africa, Thought Leader, Twitter

IntroductionThe media play a key role in framing climate change, in particular by giving voice to some viewpoints while suppressing others (Anderson 2009) and framing debates on the issue, which may be helpful in the process of forming public opinion. In

interpretation of environmental issues, shaping public perceptions and driving policy agendas (Anderson 2009).

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Climate change is often accorded less importance than more immediately pressing socioeconomic issues such as unemployment, crime and poverty (Moser and Dilling 2004, 36) – particularly in the media of the global South. In South Africa, as in many other developing countries, there is a worrying lack of public awareness of climate change and solutions for it (Sapa 2010). The media have the potential to inform vulnerable communities of potential impacts and how they can adapt to them, and

a sustainable outcome to intergovernmental climate change negotiations (CCMP 2011).In South Africa, consideration of the mainstream mass media has to take into

online social networking to promote events and causes, and, similarly, journalists use digital media for research and to reach new audiences. With the rise of Web 2.0 and increased access to the Internet, digital journalism in South Africa has spread to include

other social media to generate reader feedback (Bosch 2010).Given the wide range of content analysis studies on mass media and climate change

reporting, this article shifts the focus to online media in South Africa, particularly

Mail & Guardianof online journalism in the coverage of climate change, particularly in the context of South Africa, with implications for the global South, more broadly speaking. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of Twitter newsfeeds originating from South Africa, and blog posts on the topics of climate change and the environment during the period January – July 2011, this article argues that journalism (and citizen journalism) is increasingly moving to online platforms, and that the discourse on climate change may have greater potential for development in online news sources than in the traditional mainstream print media.

climate change, to contextualise the present study. This is followed by a discussion of online journalism and social media, and an exploration of its potential to contribute

the accepted notion that it is the global South which has contributed least to climate change, but which will suffer most from its impacts. It is here where the media are ill prepared for the challenge (Painter 2007; Shanagan 2009).

Brief literature reviewSince the 1990s, researchers from a range of disciplines have been investigating how the media report anthropogenic climate change. Some have provided snapshot studies, while others have tracked the development of issues over longer periods (Anderson 2009). Many such studies have focused on mass media coverage in the United

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authority (order and balance), and that this has led to poor coverage of climate change (Boykoff and Boykoff 2007). Similarly, others (e.g. Boykoff 2007) have argued that while in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom balanced reporting is no longer evident and may act as a stronger catalyst for public pressure for more decisive

policy agendas.In the US there has been episodic framing of climate change, which is most often

linked to major events or is personalised to focus on political actors. This informational bias has allowed the US government to delay action and defer responsibility regarding climate change (Boykoff and Boykoff 2007). Previous research has highlighted such variable coverage, showing that the US media have provided relatively little discussion of adaptation to climate change and instead concentrated on less radical mitigation measures (Anderson 2009). Peaks in coverage in the 1980s were linked to important

interest.

which, it is argued, has led to a decrease in coverage when climate change issues could

cycle to explain the rise and fall of interest in climate change (see Newell 2000; Trumbo

and Roberts 2007). McComas and Shanahan (1999) analysed print stories to show how

Anderson (2009) raised further issues that may affect climate change coverage in the mainstream media. Media corporate interests and advertisers’ interests may discourage criticism of governments’ inaction or industry’s role; journalists’ everyday

coverage is also affected by embedded cultural norms. Similarly, Carvalho (2007)

is strongly liked to ideological standpoints.Similar research studies have been conducted in the South African context, but

there have been few or no academic studies on climate change and the media in the rest of the global South. There have, however, been a few media articles, mostly highlighting developing world journalists’ poor understandings of the issues.1 Cramer (2008), who explored climate change coverage in three Western Cape newspapers – the Cape Times, Cape Argus and Die Burger – found that coverage was most commonly framed in terms of environmental impacts (such as rising sea levels). The second most popular frame was political, with no human interest stories. Painter (2007) explored broadcasting and found that SABC3’s evening news had limited coverage of climate change, and that coverage was linked to global media events.

Vogel (2009) analysed the relationship between business and climate change in

change, but that mitigation strategies are not yet as effective or widespread as they need to be. Beg et al. (2002) place great emphasis on the plight of the poorest and most marginalised people, who currently bear the brunt of the world’s environmental disasters

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and who, in the future, will be the worst affected by climate change. Developed countries and their industrial sectors have played the biggest role in emitting unsustainable levels

they will not suffer the worst consequences of future climate change effects (Beg et al. 2002).

Titus (2010) found that the Cape Argus and Mail & Guardian consistently covered issues pertaining to climate change, including events, technology, mitigation and adaptation efforts, but that the Sunday Times dedicated less space to these issues, instead focusing mainly on ‘breaking’ news. Whereas the Mail & Guardian dedicated consistently more space to environmental issues (including climate change), the Cape Argus’environmental issues, however, another study found that more than 70 per cent of articles on climate change in the Mail & Guardian, over six months in 2009 and 2010, were international, with no South African (or African) content.2

Besides the wide range of studies utilising the methodology of content analysis, a number of researchers have explored journalists’ knowledge of climate change, and have argued that misinformation and ignorance are key factors in the coverage of these issues. Wilson (2000) demonstrated notable gaps in American journalists’ knowledge of climate change, while showing that there were high levels of knowledge and accuracy

these countries, which include a lack of training, unsupportive editors, and limited access to information and interviews. The complexity of the climate change story

as a constraint to good reporting and greater public awareness and knowledge (Wilson 2000a). In New Zealand, however, Bell (1994) found stories to be 80 per cent accurate, though some overstated the advance of climate change, or confused ozone depletion with the greenhouse effect.

coverage of climate change is a social relationship between scientists, policy actors and the public that is mediated by news packages (Boykoff and Boykoff 2007). The role

The range of content analysis studies provides a good overview of the state of media coverage, although most of these deal with mainstream newspapers in the North. In general, the research reveals that media coverage of climate change tends to be too sensational, technical or abstract to help people make connections between their

is missing is content analyses of broadcast or online media content, more detailled newsroom engagement and qualitative research (which might include interviews with editors, journalists and news sources), the role of global news agencies or international

the reporting of environmental affairs (Anderson 2009). Also needed is research on this topic from and on the global South.

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The Internet and climate change

be a useful research site (Anderson 2009), particularly as journalists often name online sources as their most important source of information (Harbinson et al. 2006). The

3 and the growing use of the Internet and mobile applications, particularly among the youth, are often cited as important trends to keep in mind when analysing the role of the mass media (Dutton and Helsper 2007).

also decreasing,4 while up to 60 per cent of mobile users can use their phones to surf the Net.5

During Hurricane Katrina, the communication networks of mainstream news channels were affected, which compromised journalistic routines of fact checking. Vis (2009) shows how, similarly, Wikinews coverage was restricted by its reluctance to publish ‘raw’ eyewitness reports. Thelwall and Stuart (2007), who explored the role of new technologies in crisis events, found online forums and discussion boards to be especially useful for sharing information in the initial stages of an event. However, while there is a wide range of content analyses exploring print media coverage of climate change and related environmental issues, there is little research on the role of online journalism or social media vis-à-vis climate change reporting or science journalism.

Tweeting climate change Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging website that enables users to send and read messages of up to 140 characters. Informally referred to as the ‘SMS of the Internet’, users can group posts (referred to as tweets) by type or topic, using

directly and privately to other users.The user base of Twitter’s over 200 million users6 is predominantly located in

the US, but it is growing in Africa as more people access the Internet via their mobile phones. Twitter is the 7th most accessed website in South Africa, with news organisations

often (Fuseware 2010). However, only 55 000 South Africans use Twitter (compared to the 3.8 million who are on Facebook), though up to 40 per cent of tweets originate from a mobile device.7 In addition, South Africa is the tenth largest Twitter user in the world.8

Twitter has been widely used for social activism, to the extent that the uprisings in Iran, Moldova and, more recently, Egypt, have been referred to as ‘Twitter’ revolutions because of the role of the social networking service in spreading news locally among protesters, as well as internationally. While updates are very short – only 140 characters – the power of the update has been demonstrated in its capacity to mobilise large

al. 2010) or raise money for charity, or to share consumer opinions on brands (see, for example, Jansen et al. 2009).

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US (Clark 2010). In South Africa, climate change tweets are sporadic. In general, the periods when climate change was on the international agenda were accompanied by a concurrent increase in ‘tweets’. For example, a number of users posted content that related to COP15, the 2009 climate change talks in Copenhagen under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In general, coverage of climate change in the social media tends to subscribe to the

over continuity, the present over the past or future’ and ‘downplay complex policy information, the workings of government institutions, and the bases of power behind the central characters’ (Bennet 2002, 46).

More recent coverage of climate change on Twitter posts originating from South Africa have dealt with the COP17 conference in Durban, South Africa, with some journalists, such as estherclimate, posting links to their stories on the topic. Much of the Twitter discussion and news updates on COP17 picked up on stories covered in the mainstream print media, for instance the debate around whether South Africa would be ready to host the event, and the fact that delegates at the previous two UN climate change conferences, in Copenhagen (2009) and Cancun (2010), did not agree on a legally binding treaty to reduce carbon emissions. Twitter users also commented on economist Joseph Stiglitz’s opinions, voiced at a talk in Pretoria, to the effect that South Africa has the capacity to put itself at the forefront of developing countries in terms of

debate around nuclear power in South Africa following the accident in Japan in 2011 and Shell’s exploration of natural gas (fracking) in the Karoo. Hydraulic fracturing, also called ‘fracking’, is part of the process of extracting shale gas reserves from underground rock formations.

environmental reporter at the Mail & Guardian (M&G), with most of her recent posts accompanied by the hashtag COP17. Many tweets are, however, posted by organisations such as EnvironmentSA, MarineWestEcology or The Climate Reality

comments on extreme or unusual weather phenomena. In general, there appears to be

climate change, or of the relationship between climate change and local communities.

Blogging climate changeThe M&Gthe Internet, and it is still one of the country’s three biggest news sites. The Thought

contributions and comment on others. While cell phones are increasingly important in the South African context, it is the Internet in particular that has led to new types of participation and democratic possibilities. Thoughtleader.com was originally intended

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expertise – by invitation only (Bosch 2010). This editorial group blog, which provides commentary and analysis, aims

M&G journalists and columnists, as well as other writers, commentators, intellectuals and opinion makers across various industries

comment and discuss issues raised by contributors. (www.thoughtleader.co.za)

environmental activists. There are, for example, frequent posts by Danielle Nierenberg of WorldWatch Institute, environmentalist Mike Baillie, and Peak Oil Perspectives – an environmental interest group. The patterns on the blogs are similar to the patterns on Twitter, where a handful of interested or knowledgeable individuals and organisations engage in public debate and discussion around issues relating to climate change, and the focus is either on breaking news or bigger political stories. No stories were found which covered either a human interest angle or focused on localising the bigger political picture to show how climate change affects local communities.

covered events occurring as a result of climate change, or other broader environmental debates. The keywords ‘climate change’ ‘mitigation’ and ‘adaptation’ were rarely used. These environmental issues were also linked to the coverage in the mainstream print media, and, for example, during the selected time period several blog posts covered the controversial story of Shell Oil fracking in the Karoo, providing more detail than was possible using Twitter. There was also coverage of environmental stories (such as natural disasters) with little detail about their possible links to climate change.

ConclusionAs regards mainstream press coverage, online journalism and social media coverage of climate change, the picture is much the same. Rarely is there any illustration of the impacts climate change can have on a community’s environmental, personal and political security. Climate change is usually covered as an environmental, economic or political story in the print and social media. Few studies relate climate change to broader development issues, government policies related to climate change, or its impact on local communities. Climate change is thus seldom framed as the social or political story that it is.

There is a dominance of English language in the mainstream print and social media, and journalists might consider translating climate change stories into local languages to reach wider audiences. Much like coverage in countries such as the US (see Boykoff and Boykoff, 2007), South African print coverage tends to reject

consequences, which leads to an ‘episodic’ framing of climate change news versus placing stories in a broader thematic context. This trend has been shown to lead to shallow understandings of political and social issues (Iyengar 1991) – a practice which

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Journalists in developing countries often rely on international news agencies, science

While the analysis of print media coverage gives a good picture of mainstream media coverage of issues related to climate change, the rise in online journalism and social media – particularly in Africa – has to be taken into account. Twitter is used by journalists to conduct research and to alert them to story ideas. They also use it to tweet their own research and stories, therefore it cannot be ignored in the discussion on climate change and journalism. While the short messages do not allow much room

more nuanced discussions and explanations of climate change issues raised in the mainstream press, in an online space that is potentially accessed by more readers, using their mobile phones. However, unlike mainstream media, people can more carefully select whom to ‘follow’ on Twitter and in the blogosphere. It thus becomes critical for South African journalists to make the climate change story about the development of communities, politics and economics, instead of restricting it to the environmental

Biographical noteTanja Bosch is a senior lecturer in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she teaches radio journalism, social media and qualitative research methods. Her areas of research and publication include talk radio and democracy, community radio,

Notes

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