The Cultural Production of Climate Disinformation : A Social Network Analysis of the NIPCC

Abstract: This master thesis in media and communication studies examines the production and dissemination of disinformation regarding climate change. Utilizing a synthesis of social network analysis, cultural industries, and disinformation studies. It is a study of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change and its production of texts. Arguing that this is a form of cultural production and should be studied as such. Conducting a social network analysis to illustrate the network structure behind the production and asking the question of how and why this is occurring. Exploring themes of post-truth, scientific realism, and conspiracy theories. The result of the study concludes that the NIPCC is producing and disseminating climate disinformation. Providing an outline of the process and chain of production. Further suggesting that it is financed by economic and political elites through a system of patronage as a means of protecting their interests. Lastly discussing the function production of disinformation serves as “corrupted infrastructures of meaning” supporting alternative epistemological realities.