GLOBAL WARMING

Global Warming

Global Warming

Purpose

In this study we utilize content analysis techniques to examine how the issue of global warming and climate change has been characterized during the period of 1992 through 2008 by the Houston Chronicle—the largest regional newspaper in the Texas coastal region. A total of 795 global warming and climate change news articles from the Houston Chronicle are collected, coded and analyzed. Data analyses are organized and presented with regard to issue salience, various issue attributes (issue image, scope, linkage, participant, proposed solution and responsible party), use of science, and scientific information sources cited in the news stories. We find that regional media attention to the global climate change issue generally increases over time and an overwhelming majority of the news articles view the issue as a harmful problem. However, given the scientific consensus that global warming will result in significant devastating climate change consequences to the coastal regions, there are still a fair number of news articles delivering mixed, undetermined or even non-harmful messages. We also find that climate change is often discussed as a national or international-global issue, and frequently linked to a number of other public issues rather than just being viewed as an environmental-ecological problem.

"Proponents" of global warming tend to support the IPCC position and thus represent a broadly unified viewpoint, though with considerable differences over what action should be taken. Optionally, supporters may go on to point out that there is a good chance that the future changes may be undesirable, and that planning to avoid or mitigate them would be a good idea.

Methodology

To collect relevant news articles on climate change published in the Houston Chronicle, we used the Lexis-Nexis online searchable newspaper archive.3 The time span of our study covers a 14-year period, from January 1, 1992 through December 31, 2008. This particular time period was chosen because of the limited availability of the Houston Chronicle articles in Lexis-Nexis database.

The Houston Chronicle is the newspaper with the largest circulation along the Texas Gulf coastal region, with readership extending well beyond the Houston metropolitan area. Historically, this region is vulnerable to extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms. Recent storms like Hurricane Rita and Tropical Storm Allison created much havoc in this region, and the most devastating hurricane in the history of the U.S. destroyed much of Galveston, Texas, at the turn of the twentieth century. This region has also experienced land loss attributable to the effects of subsidence and sea-level rise, a change that is expected to exacerbate the effects of storms even if increases in sea surface temperature do not increase storm frequency and severity. In addition, it is an area whose economy is dependent on a rich mix that includes agriculture, fishing, tourism, and petrochemical industry. Decisions made in the light of climate change effects will certainly have impacts on one or more of these economic sectors. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Texas and ...