Who Speaks for the Climate?
Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change
Maxwell T. Boykoff, assistant professor of environmental studies
Cambridge University Press
The public relies upon media representations to help interpret and make sense of the many complexities relating to climate science and governance. Media representations of climate issues—from news to entertainment—are powerful and important links between people's everyday realities and experiences, and the ways in which they are discussed by scientists, policymakers and public actors.
A dynamic mix of influences—from internal workings of mass media such as journalistic norms, to external political, economic, cultural and social factors—shapes what becomes a climate “story.”
Providing a bridge between academic considerations and real world developments, this book helps students, academic researchers and interested members of the public make sense of media reporting on climate change as it explores “who speaks for climate” and what effects this may have on the spectrum of possible responses to contemporary climate challenges.
“People's understandings of climate change are shaped more by the media and their cacophony of voices than they are by the systematic enquiries and endeavors of climate scientists. Boykoff's ‘Who Speaks for the Climate?’ arrives just at the right time to offer you the authoritative guide to how climate change is made, affirmed and denied in print, broadcast, internet or new social media.”
“Maxwell T. Boykoff's penetrating research into how the media cover, and too often poorly cover, what many consider to be 'the story of the century' reveals new insights into this ever-changing, and ever-concerning, field of social endeavor. You'll go through more than a few yellow highlighters marking key points and passages. And over time you'll find this among your most seriously dog-eared resources on media, climate change, the clash of journalism and science cultures … and the way out of it all.”
“Built on a decade of diligent and constructive research at the climate science/media/society join, Boykoff's book makes a major contribution to some critical questions. With a generous tone and inviting style the reader gains a body of key insights on this vital topic. But this is more than clear analysis: it also serves as a guide to action.”
“Some day, when we will write the obituary for this period of human history, society's response to climate change, we will need to account for the role of the media in it. This book—pulling together in one place Boykoff's path-breaking work on this subject—answers how the mass media have spoken about climate, and who speaks through them, shaping the cultural politics of discourse on one of the most challenging environmental crises humanity has ever faced. So, who speaks for media reporting on climate, and does so from a deeply informed, critical perspective? Maxwell T. Boykoff.”
“Max Boykoff is the leading researcher and critical voice on the media and climate change. His work is accessible, reaching politicians and journalists as well as academics, and this book provides a benchmark in the increasingly urgent and significant field of environmental communication on issues of climate and global change.”
Maxwell T. Boykoff, assistant professor of environmental studies
Cambridge University Press
The public relies upon media representations to help interpret and make sense of the many complexities relating to climate science and governance. Media representations of climate issues—from news to entertainment—are powerful and important links between people's everyday realities and experiences, and the ways in which they are discussed by scientists, policymakers and public actors.
A dynamic mix of influences—from internal workings of mass media such as journalistic norms, to external political, economic, cultural and social factors—shapes what becomes a climate “story.”
Providing a bridge between academic considerations and real world developments, this book helps students, academic researchers and interested members of the public make sense of media reporting on climate change as it explores “who speaks for climate” and what effects this may have on the spectrum of possible responses to contemporary climate challenges.
“People's understandings of climate change are shaped more by the media and their cacophony of voices than they are by the systematic enquiries and endeavors of climate scientists. Boykoff's ‘Who Speaks for the Climate?’ arrives just at the right time to offer you the authoritative guide to how climate change is made, affirmed and denied in print, broadcast, internet or new social media.”
—Mike Hulme, Professor of Climate Change, University of East Anglia
“Maxwell T. Boykoff's penetrating research into how the media cover, and too often poorly cover, what many consider to be 'the story of the century' reveals new insights into this ever-changing, and ever-concerning, field of social endeavor. You'll go through more than a few yellow highlighters marking key points and passages. And over time you'll find this among your most seriously dog-eared resources on media, climate change, the clash of journalism and science cultures … and the way out of it all.”
—Bud Ward, Editor, The Yale Forum on Climate Change and The Media
“Built on a decade of diligent and constructive research at the climate science/media/society join, Boykoff's book makes a major contribution to some critical questions. With a generous tone and inviting style the reader gains a body of key insights on this vital topic. But this is more than clear analysis: it also serves as a guide to action.”
—Joe Smith, Senior Lecturer in Environment, The Open University
“Some day, when we will write the obituary for this period of human history, society's response to climate change, we will need to account for the role of the media in it. This book—pulling together in one place Boykoff's path-breaking work on this subject—answers how the mass media have spoken about climate, and who speaks through them, shaping the cultural politics of discourse on one of the most challenging environmental crises humanity has ever faced. So, who speaks for media reporting on climate, and does so from a deeply informed, critical perspective? Maxwell T. Boykoff.”
—Susanne C. Moser, Research Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
“Max Boykoff is the leading researcher and critical voice on the media and climate change. His work is accessible, reaching politicians and journalists as well as academics, and this book provides a benchmark in the increasingly urgent and significant field of environmental communication on issues of climate and global change.”
—Diana Liverman, Professor of Geography and Development and Co-Director of the Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona