Media Framing of Climate Change Ideology in Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijcpr.3925Keywords:
Climate Change, Sustainable Development Goals, Framing, Media, Climate FinancingAbstract
Purpose: To examine the extent to which the Daily Nation Newspaper covered climate change and how such coverage was framed in relation to efforts to mitigate the climate crisis.
Methodology: The study employed content analysis method to analyse the data sampled from the newspaper. In this case, framing analysis of 36 articles sampled from the Daily Nation newspaper published between 1st October 2024 and December 31st 2024 were considered. This was based on a month prior, during and after the United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP29) - held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11–22, 2024.
Findings: The study found that Daily Nation’s coverage of COP29 was largely dominated by climate finance narratives, with most articles emphasizing funding commitments, inequality between developed and developing countries, and issues of climate justice. Less attention was given to climate change mitigation, adaptation strategies, and scientific solutions. The coverage consistently framed Africa as highly vulnerable to climate change and dependent on external financial support, while developed nations were often portrayed as failing to meet their obligations under the Paris Agreement. Overall, climate change was mainly presented as a political and financial issue rather than a balanced discussion that included practical mitigation actions, with emphasis and equivalency frames shaping how readers interpreted the climate crisis.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study is guided by Agenda-setting Theory and Framing Theory, which explain how the media influences public understanding by selecting and emphasizing certain issues while downplaying others, and by shaping how those issues are interpreted. In the context of the Daily Nation’s coverage of COP29, the study shows that climate change reporting was largely framed around climate finance and global inequality, while less attention was given to mitigation and adaptation strategies. This contributes to theory by demonstrating how agenda-setting and framing work together to shape climate discourse in a developing country context and may reinforce dominant global narratives about climate justice.
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