Framing Climate Change : A study of the climate change coverage in a Swedish daily newspaper between 1992-2018

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine how Dagens Nyheter uses frames when covering climate change between 1992-2018. Reports from IPCC has shown that the scientists has become more convinced over the years about the causes and effects of climate change. That makes it relevant to study if Dagens Nyheter has changed their coverage as media has the power to convey their content in many ways. This study uses framing theory which suggests that media can select some aspects of the reality, thus making them more salient in text. A quantitative content analysis was used on 550 articles, which answered to multiple questions in a coding-manual to see which frame, out of five, was used in that article. The five frames in the coding-manual was The responsibility frame, The conflict frame, The human interest frame, The economy/consequence frame and The ecology/science frame. The study showed that there were a wider spread of frames between 1992-1998, with The responsibility frame, The economy/consequence frame and The conflict frame most frequently present. However, 2000-2018 was dominated by The responsibility frame which means that the government is responsible, suggests solutions to the climate change or calls for urgent actions.