Science And The Media

Assessment 3
51227146
Within the past few months (w/c 8th September 2013 w/c 9th
March 2014), there has been a pique in interest regarding climate
change issues.
The two graphs below display the number of articles that
include the phrase climate change and similar within the article, as
well as the total number of words for each article, within the six
month time period.

When viewing the graphs, it must be noted that the articles

may not be explicity centred around the topic, and may be about
something else with climate change mentioned in passing (like The
Guardians sports article on 19/11/2014 Racing: Todays
Selections).
As you can see, the high quality broadsheet papers touch
upon the issue more frequently, implementing more serious fact
based articles (for example, The Independents article on
04/02/2014 Deadlier Summers, Milder Winters Forecast), whereas
tabloid newspapers, known more for celebrity news and opinion
pieces, discuss the matter much less frequently and with less of a
serious concentration (like The Suns article on 14/12/2013
ELECTRICITEE-HEE).
It is common knowledge that different newspapers attract
different types of people. Quality broadsheet pieces are more
appealing to the middle and upper classes, who generally benefit
from better and more prolonged education (by which I mean they
generally progress beyond secondary education to colleges and
universities). On the other hand, the lower and working classes are,
according to statistics, drawn to the tabloid press, which could be
due to the higher quantity of entertainment pieces. While I do not
agree with these generalizations, having come form a rather
underprivileged area, it is often seen as true that people of a lower
income and misfortunate area do not progress to higher quality or
advanced education, and are therefore less informed in more
serious matters.
Towards the holiday period of 2013 into 2014, serious floods
unfortunately struck England. As coverage of the floods increased,
so did theories attempting to explain the floods within the articles.
Many articles have put the floods down to melted ice caps, which in
turn cause raised sea levels, but there was also a major contribution

from abnormally large amounts of rainfall over the season. The

Guardian picked up on the flooding quite often through the use of
the letters section (07/02/2013, Flooding must serve as a wake-up
call for us all) and the news features (09/01/2014 Climate change
may be cause of floods, says PM). As mentioned earlier, the nature
of these appear to be on the serious side of things, addressing
causes and potential solutions to the issues raised.
However, the tabloid papers are prone to twisting the truth or
even missing out elements important to the full story in order to
keep the entertainment value up. The Daily Star is the paper with
the worst coverage of climate change within its pages a grand
total of eight articles, with a word count of 1109, have the words
climate change at least mentioned. This supports my earlier
statement that the tabloids and the audience of these papers are
drawn more to entertainment news and opinion pieces. Perhaps the
most serious of articles in this paper regarding climate change is UK
UNDER WATER; England will be submerged if global warming
continues while this appears more fact driven, the headline relies
heavily on the fear factor, and doesnt seem to imply any bright
future or solution to climate change.
On the subject of tabloid headlines, a common phrase in place
of climate change is the use of global warming. This is a type of
fear mongering; playing on the national fear of a subject in order to,
in this case, boost sales. Global warming is incorrect, as the climate
change issue also relates to lowered temperatures and alterations in
humidity. Global warming is a phrase frequently used in tabloid
papers due to the dramatic effect it portrays it has a more
apocalyptic edge to it compared to the rather tame climate
change, and therefore appeals more to the side of the public which
enjoys a scare and a scandal more than facts and figures.
In the following graph, the unlabelled X-axis displays the
number of articles produced that include the words climate
change.

The preceeding graph show a raised interest from all

productions throughout the UK, be they broadsheet or tabloid, in the
issues presented by climate change during Februrary, as this would
be during the aftermarth of the English floods.
The aforementioned serious content of the broadsheet
newspapers is clearly shown, due to the extreme higher numbers of
climate control articles. It is interesting to note how the lowest
number of climate change articles in national broadsheets (March,
thirty-four articles) is only just less than the highest number of
climate articles in national tabloids (September, fifty-seven articles),
again exposing the tabloid obsession with entertainment news.
The south-west saw a gradual increase from December, and
reaching a maximum of seventy-five climate change articles in
Feburary. This would be down to the relevance of the news many
areas were affected, so the news during the floods would be covered
to greater depth, as well as the after effects of the floods.
In summary, it is clear to see how the content and quality of a
newspaper is displayed when comparisons are drawn between
current events and a newspapers article output. The English floods,
a terrifying and serious event of recent times, were covered in
different ways, depending on region and newspaper type.
Broadsheet newspapers, as expected, take the forefront regarding

climate change coverage, whereas tabloid newspapers trail behind

in climate change content. This is to do with their interest in
including entertainment and celebrity news, however it is also to do
with the wording used while there were significantly less climate
change articles, there may have been many more global warming
articles, a phrase used to induce fear in the reader.
WORDCOUNT - 972