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Contemporary societies face various crises of sustainability related, inter alia, to consumption, resource use, financial management, employment, and environmental degradation. Climate change is the most threatening and wide-ranging expression of the environmental impact of human activity (especially as conducted in rich societies) in the last few decades. Since it emerged in policy and public arenas in the late 1980s, climate change has been assigned a variety of meanings with diverse implications for action. Discourses advanced by scientists, political actors, corporations, civic groups and others have been reconstructed in the media and other public fora in diverse ways, with values, worldviews and power issues working as important filters. Those aspects have also weighed heavily in the progressive institutionalization of discourses on climate change, which led to the dominance of techno-managerial approaches and the marginalization of calls for addressing structural issues at the root of climate change. In the USA and, to a smaller degree, in other societies, various economic and political forces have been continuingly invested in large-scale propaganda to deny scientific evidence and impede any changes to the present status quo. ; (undefined) ...

[Excerpt] The speed and scale of human impact on the planet have, in the last few decades, reached unprecedented levels. As the composition of the atmosphere itself is rapidly modified, climate change has become the most severe threat to both biophysical systems and human security, thus demanding a fundamental rethinking of its root causes. Despite much expectation regarding the Paris Accord and other developments, most socioeconomic practices and structures remain unchanged. In this short paper I will argue that, despite much focus on (inter)governmental policies in media(ted) discourses, climate change has been depoliticized in various ways, and that a radically democratic approach is needed to address it. ...

The goal fo this article is to discursively deconstruct the city of Braga. By analyzing political communication and advertising, it aims to show the analytical potential of concepts proposed by Ernesto Laclau and Chatal Mouffe to understand how certain discourses become hegemonic, shaping the meaning of the city and the identity of subjects. Laclau and Mouffe view meanings as something that his never completely defined but only partly fixed by nodal points constituted through practices of articulation. "Development" and "green growth" were two key nodal points that fixed the meaning of social relations in Braga in different historic moments. "Nature" and "green" emerged in a variety of discursive contexts to support both the city council's project and business interests. As these signifiers became increasingly eroded, they turned into empty signifiers allowing for all sorts of discursive uses in constructing and reinforcing the hegemonic position of local powers. Simultaneously, the subject positions and identities of citizens were also reconstructed through those discourses. ; O objectivo deste artigo é desconstruir discursivamente a cidade de Braga. Através da análise de comunicação política e de publicidade, procura-se ilustrar o potencial analítico de conceitos formulados por Ernesto Laclau e Chantal Mouffe para compreender a forma como determinados discursos se tornam hegemónicos, moldando o sentido da cidade e a identidade dos sujeitos. Laclau e Mouffe vêem os significados como algo que nunca está completamente definido mas apenas parcialmente fixado por pontos nodais constituídos através de práticas de articulação. "Desenvolvimento" e "crescimento verde" foram dois pontos nodais importantes que fixaram o significado das relações sociais em Braga em diferentes momentos históricos. A "natureza" e o "ambiente" emergiram numa variedade de contextos discursivos para apoiar o projecto da Câmara Municipal e os interesses empresariais na cidade. À medida que estes significantes se foram desgastando, ...

Climate change is one of the most serious threats that humankind will have to deal with in the coming decades. There is every indication that it will engender a significant upheaval in the climate patterns of the world regions, with corresponding impacts on agriculture, ecosystems and human health. This main entail unpredictable weather events, like storms and tornados, while posing significant risks for human security, destruction of housing and economic structures, and flooding of low lying countries, among other effects (IPCC 2007). The enhanced greenhouse effect is a complex, multi-dimensional issue, both in terms of causes and effects. The production of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which strongly influence the Earth's climate, is deeply embedded in the way in which modern societies work: in transportation, heating, the production of goods, and so forth. Climate change has strong links with powerful economic activities and organizations, such as the oil industry. Therefore, tackling the problem requires an unprecedented level of coordination between governments, industry and consumers in a short time-scale. The precise definition of the problem is itself a battlefield, where different actors - NGOs, corporations, scientific community, etc. - attempt to make their views prevail. This conceptual struggle will have material consequences, since the solutions are conditioned by what is understood to be the problem. The news media, as a key space for the production, reproduction and transformation of meanings, play an important role in this process, influencing both social representations and policy-making on this issue (e.g. Cabecinhas, Lázaro and Carvalho in press; Corbet and Durfee 2004; Wilson 1995). This chapter focuses on the roles that the mainstream media have played in the last two decades in the social construction of climate change and in the relations between science, policy and public opinion. By mainstream media I mean the major television networks, newspapers and magazines with high circulation, and ...

Research has shown that the media are the main source of information and the main factor shaping people's awareness and concern in relation to climate change and therefore have an important role in setting the public agenda. As a key forum for the production, reproduction and transformation of the meaning of public issues, the media influence understandings of risks, responsibilities, as well as of the functioning of democratic politics. This article argues that the media also matter to citizens' perception of their (potential) political agency or their political subjectivity. Media representations construct particular 'subject positions' for individuals and cultivate dispositions to action or inaction. The article discusses the importance of citizens' political engagement with climate change and points out some aspects of media(ted) discourses that may constrain the perceived possibilities of participation in the politics of climate change. While engagement with climate change has multiple dimensions and a number of barriers have been identified through empirical studies, this article offers a critique of the role of the media in political engagement with the problem and suggests avenues for future research. ; The author is grateful to the Portuguese Funda A, o para a CiIncia e a Tecnologia for funding the project 'The Politics of Climate Change: Discourses and Representations' (POCI/COM56973/2004), to Jan Zienkowski for relevant comments on this paper, and to the reviewers who provided detailed ...

Climate change is a multi-faceted issue. It relies on deep scientific bases, but merges with politics, economics, ethics and culture in a complex and strongly nonlinear social debate. This interview focuses on the relationships between public communication on climate change (with emphasis on the so-called 'new media') and the decision making processes. It argues that more productive and sustainable forms of communication on climate change are needed due to problems related with validation of information in the Web. ...

While its causation is highly differentiated across the globe and across social groups, the enhanced greenhouse effect is already having worldwide impacts ranging from temperature increase to extreme weather events. This raises key questions of responsibility for governments, business and individuals. In this context, the definition of rights and duties in connection to greenhouse gas emissions has become the subject of a discursive battle, which has generated divides between industrialized and developing economies, and within each of these groups of countries. This paper offers a contribution to understanding these matters with an exploratory analysis of a sample of political and media discourses from the USA and China. The following questions are addressed in the paper: How are the positions of these countries' governments legitimated? How are their citizens' economic, political and social rights and duties in relation to climate change constructed? How are the governments and citizens of other countries ...

[Introduction] In an article from 2000 Sheldon Ungar stated that, unlike the ozone hole, climate change never generated a 'hot crisis'. Looking at the prominence of the issue in the national and international political agendas and the volume of media coverage that it has sustained in the last five years or so one is led to believe that things have changed. A series of remarkable events has contributed to transform climate change into one of the most high profile issues of the present moment: hurricane Katrina, Al Gore's film and book An Inconvenient Truth, the Nobel prize that was awarded jointly to him and to the IPCC, the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, Live Earth, and the gloomy forecasts of the 4th IPCC Assessment Report all concurred to putting climate change on the media, the public's and the political agendas, which then tend to feed each other. In fact, multiple surveys indicate that people around the world are aware of the issue and very concerned, are willing to act upon it and expect politicians to take the lead. Yet, global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise rapidly. ; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia ...

International audience ; Focusing on the representation of climate change in the British "quality press," this article argues that the discursive (re)construction of scientific claims in the media is strongly entangled with ideological standpoints. Understood here as a set of ideas and values that legitimate a program of action vis-à-vis a given social and political order, ideology works as a powerful selection device in deciding what is scientific news, i.e. what the relevant "facts" are, and who are the authorized "agents of definition" of science matters. The representation of scientific knowledge has important implications for evaluating political programs and assessing the responsibility of both governments and the public in addressing climate change.

Focusing on the representation of climate change in the British "quality press," this article argues that the discursive (re)construction of scientific claims in the media is strongly entangled with ideological standpoints. Understood here as a set of ideas and values that legitimate a program of action vis-à-vis a given social and political order, ideology works as a powerful selection device in deciding what is scientific news, i.e. what the relevant "facts" are, and who are the authorized "agents of definition" of science matters. The representation of scientific knowledge has important implications for evaluating political programs and assessing the responsibility of both governments and the public in addressing climate ...

Focusing on the representation of climate change in the British "quality press," this article argues that the discursive (re)construction of scientific claims in the media is strongly entangled with ideological standpoints. Understood here as a set of ideas and values that legitimate a program of action vis-à-vis a given social and political order, ideology works as a powerful selection device in deciding what is scientific news, i.e. what the relevant "facts" are, and who are the authorized "agents of definition" of science matters. The representation of scientific knowledge has important implications for evaluating political programs and assessing the responsibility of both governments and the public in addressing climate change.

Prova tipográfica (In Press) ; Focusing on the representation of climate change in the British "quality press," this article argues that the discursive (re)construction of scientific claims in the media is strongly entangled with ideological standpoints. Understood here as a set of ideas and values that legitimate a program of action vis-à-vis a given social and political order, ideology works as a powerful selection device in deciding what is scientific news, i.e. what the relevant "facts" are, and who are the authorized "agents of definition" of science matters. The representation of scientific knowledge has important implications for evaluating political programs and assessing the responsibility of both governments and the public in addressing climate change. ; Universidade do Minho. ; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. ; Centro de Ciências Históricas e Sociais da Universidade do ...

The paper builds on an extensive study of the coverage of climate change by the British press from the mid-eighties until 1997. A corpus of over 2 000 articles published in the Guardian, Times and Independent is the basis for both a quantitative and qualitative analysis on the representation of this complex matter. Climate change is a contested issue at the scientific, political, economic and social levels. The media are a central arena for such a debate. As a marketplace of arguments, the media promote some ideas and voices while suppressing others. It is then urgent to identify potential structural biases, as well as challenges to the dominant positions. The mass means of communication have an important role in the social production, reproduction and change of views and values. In other words, the media matter for the discursive construction of a normative order about the global environment. The aims of the paper will be to provide an overview of the coverage of climate change by the British press and to critically examine some aspects of the representation of the issue. The paper will be structured in two parts. Firstly, I will present the fluctuation in the number of articles published in the press throughout a period of almost 15 years and discuss possible explanations of peaks and lows, as well as their impact. In the second part, I will investigate the ways the media represents the claims and views of different social actors - policy-makers, NGOs, business, scientists, etc. A sample of press articles will be analysed in detail to assess this point. Such an analysis will shed light on the political role of the media and help us know the extent to which the media tend to legitimate certain ideological positions or to promote a valuable critique of various alternatives. Another goal of the paper will be to examine the representation of ethical viewpoints in the press. Some of the themes to be explored are equity, justice and responsibility. The latter can be considered in relation to peoples geographically ...

The goal of this paper is to examine the role of the Portuguese press in Angolan political dynamics during 1991/1992 and in the political relations between Portugal and Angola at two main levels: the effects of press on political decision-making and on political action and the ways political actors use the media. In order to fulfill these objectives I interviewed about 20 Portuguese and Angolan political decision-makers, diplomats and journalists, and analyzed around 200 news articles. The views of those politicians and journalists about the interaction between media and politics will be presented in the ...