An analysis of climate change science communication in post-apartheid South Africa over the period 1996 to 2016

Abstract

Climate change is arguably one of the biggest challenges facing the world today. It is well documented that the issue has been garnering significant attention in news media across the United States and Europe. In Africa, the most vulnerable continent, news media coverage of climate change is underrepresented. The understanding of news media representation of climate change science, particularly objective facts, is therefore of particular importance. This study explored the portrayal of three objective facts about climate change science (observed climate trends, climate change impacts and climate projections) in three leading South African broadsheet newspapers between 1996 and 2016. In addition, the study examined the manner in which the United Nations climate change conferences or Conference of the Parties (COP) events influence newspaper coverage of climate change science. The study further interrogated the effects of news media on newspaper readers’ opinion. This study provided an understanding of South African news media reporting on climate change science by bridging the existing knowledge gap in the literature. The study conducted a quantitative content analysis of 266 news articles from the City Press, The Sunday Independent, and Sunday Times. In order to explain public opinion about climate change science in the press, this study conducted a questionnaire survey among active readers of the Sunday broadsheet newspapers from a rural community in Limpopo, South Africa. The findings showed that newspaper attention devoted to objective facts remained low between 1996 and 2016, but their proportion rose slightly between 2006 and 2007. The analysis further revealed that political agenda had taken precedence over scientific agenda. The results have shown that South African newspapers were highly dependent on news agencies from the Global North. COP events coverage was at the highest peak in 2011, however, the study asserted that the focusing events did not strongly shape portrayal of objective facts in the press. The findings suggested that the dearth of scientific agenda in news articles had a major impact on newspaper readers’ opinion on climate change. The results also showed that there has been newspaper reader scepticism on climate change projections. This research provided useful insights on how objective facts on climate change science are portrayed in news articles across the major broadsheets in South Africa. The conclusion of this study was that there was a considerable disconnect between the scientific agenda on climate change and print media. The study recommended the development of a guidebook to bridge the gap between climate change science and newsrooms and highlighted key areas for future research.