The Climate of Newspaper Coverage: Communication of Climate Change Uncertainty in India

Abstract

Scientists are more certain than ever that climate change is occurring and is an anthropogenic driven process; however, consensus and public understanding are lagging behind. While climate science is a highly uncertain field, groups of scientists like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are working to better communicate about the issue. By examining articles published before and after the first volume of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), this study looks to uncover how uncertainty is communicated in English-language Indian newspapers. Utilizing methods of content analysis, related newspaper articles were coded for communication of uncertainty, sources of information, and climate change impacts discussed. I find that IPCC is not the most widely used source of information about global climate change. Second, I find that the uncertainty language defined in the AR5 report is not frequently used in newspapers.