ABSTRACT

This chapter analyzes news media coverage of UNFCCC climate meetings and how climate movement actors and their perspectives are represented. It focuses on printed news media to explore the resonance of the concerns raised by climate/environmental movement actors in the coverage of two UNFCCC climate meetings, the ones taking place in Copenhagen in 2009, COP15; and in Paris in 2015, COP21. The chapter argues that power relationships are important, as emphasized in the "critical" paradigm. It also argues that the fact that the COPs function as "global public sphere moments" affects their coverage in decisive ways, facilitating for parts of the climate movement to get media standing even in the absence of a radical flank or significant disagreement among elites. The chapter explores the media coverage from four countries in the Global North Japan, Denmark, Sweden and the United States. It draws on frame analysis to make comparisons among media frames and the role of environmental movements.