Framing Climate Change : The climate scepticist framing of climate change by the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC

Abstract: This research touches upon the influence of the museum as a media and the scepticist political framing of climate change in a U.S. context. By use of a two-step methodological approach, the thesis attempts to create a framework by which to understand the inner workings of the scepticist framing from a qualitative perspective. The thesis approaches the case from the onset that the case is the result as well as an expression of the environment for discussing climate change in a U.S. context. The research therefore aims to analyse the retrieved frames on climate change in order to reveal the imprint of power of one such actors in the U.S. debates on climate change as well as the power struggles between opposing social settings with each their perceived material reality in which the climate exists. The retrieved material on which the analysis at the heart of the case study is based consists of: an excerpt taken from an interview, an article from a Koch Industries newsletter, and printed school material in the shape of an Educator Guide found on the official website of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The selection of the material is based on mode of publication in public media as well as their relationship with each other. The selection further allows for a brief look into how scepticist framing on climate change is realised and promoted through alternative means and media. Having established both the mechanisms at play in the scepticist framing on climate change, and the relation between the retrieved material including this framing to the Koch Brothers, the thesis will aim to position these findings in a more theoretical discussion by virtue of relevant theory on power structure, power struggles, possibilities for political engagement, the risk society, media power, alternative media. Hopefully, the thesis will be able to make clear the relevance of this link between discussing political framing in terms of the mere results in the analysis and the broader discussion on how media as well as framing are tools both for facilitating and hindering political engagement in the public. Lastly, the thesis will conclude by attempting to make clear the importance and relevance of media and communications studies in the field of climate change, especially seeing how the link between the social sciences and the natural sciences is necessary to get closer to combating climate change.