Date of Award

6-1-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Mass Communications

First Advisor

Christof Demont Heinrich, Ph.D.

Keywords

Climate gate, Framing, Framing analysis of climate change and global warming, Journalism and climate change, Journalism and Climate-gate, Journalism and global warming

Abstract

Mere days before the Copenhagen Climate Summit, the main server of the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia was illegally hacked and over 3,000 documents were downloaded and released onto climate change blogs with excerpts of emails exchanged between climate change scientists that discussed manipulation of data, faulty observation techniques, and their frustration over their inability to provide solid proof that global warming was occurring. The release of these emails set off a firestorm of debate and the incident was quickly coined ―Climate-gate.

This study examines the ensuing media coverage by CNN and Fox News and seeks to understand the narrative of the event that was provided to the American public. An analysis of the coverage of Climate-gate by two major American news media organizations offers new and interesting insight into the nature of the partisan-based divide that characterizes public opinion regarding the issues of global warming and climate change in the United States.

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

Rights holder

Jennifer Renee Hill

File size

120 p.

File format

application/pdf

Language

en

Discipline

Journalism, Mass communication

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