Fighting climate change starts with journalists : An analysis of the news coverage of the annual United Nations climate summits by the BBC online between 2008 and 2018

Abstract: Climate change is one of the biggest threats the world is currently facing and it seems that people are able to significantly influence this threat. In order for people to understand the urgency of fighting climate change it is important that they are well informed and that they understand how their actions can matter. In this research, a quantitative content analysis with a discourse analytical approach is used to analyze a selection of articles by the BBC online covering the annual United Nations climate summits between 2008 and 2018 with a focus on their usage of constructive elements. The amount of negative statements in the articles is as big as the positive and hopeful statements together and in most cases the articles lack background information. Although the BBC uses many different perspectives in their articles, there is a lot of room to improve their articles by including more constructive elements. They could provide more background information to issues, quotes, and statements used in their articles and rather than only stating existing and possible problems they could include more solutions and focus more on the future.