New Research on Climate News: 'Something About the Climate is Hard to Put into Words'"

Researchers at the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET) and the Department of Information Science and Media Studies have studied how people perceive and understand news about climate issues and other crises since 2021. The research shows that if climate journalism aims to inspire change, it must figure out how to make climate news meaningful to the public while conveying the big picture and addressing the most serious challenges. 

Through repeated interviews and open questionnaires, the researchers have followed several Norwegian news users over time. It quickly became apparent that climate change is less tangible than other major news topics. The researchers identify three main reasons for this: the topic is not integrated into daily news media habits, it has unclear boundaries, and it is weakly anchored in time and place. 

"Climate change does not capture people's attention in the same way as the war in Ukraine or energy shortages," says Professor Håvard Haarstad, Director of CET. 

When the researchers delved deeper into how people understand climate issues presented in the news, they found several different ways of reacting and understanding climate news. One reaction is called "inconclusive reasoning"; due to the uncertainty and complexity of climate issues, readers struggle to form an opinion. 

Another reaction the researchers found was a tendency to take a moral stance on the news. This means that the public understands climate as an ethical and moral issue, often accompanied by strong opinions and calls to action.  

A final reaction was the repetition of climate discourse; the public repeats existing discussions about climate change, reinforcing the opinions and perceptions they already have. 

"We see that factors such as the level of conflict in the news, whether it is geographically anchored, and whether the news points to clear solutions encourage different ways of understanding it," says Professor Brita Ytre-Arne, leader of the MUCS research project. 

A challenge for climate journalism 

Climate change is often perceived as an omnipresent and global problem that is difficult to talk about. 

"This is because climate change is linked to everything from everyday things like recycling and car use to major global challenges like melting glaciers," explains PhD candidate Solveig Høegh-Krohn. "This creates a paradox for people. When climate issues are tied to specific cases, it can inspire engagement, but when climate permeates 'everything,' it can feel overwhelming and confusing, making it difficult to grasp what the issue is really about." 

The challenge with climate journalism is that some of the serious aspects of climate change simply make little sense as news. News about reducing global warming and securing living conditions now and in the future often leads to psychological distancing and a sense of powerlessness among readers. However, the researchers find that it is easier for people to engage in climate issues that are rooted in local conditions or political processes, where concerns such as energy needs versus nature conservation meet on the ground. 

If climate journalism aims to inspire change, it must figure out how to make climate news meaningful to the public while conveying the big picture and addressing the most serious challenges.