Identificación y trazabilidad, Propiedad perteneciente a las partes interesadas,

This research analyses newspaper articles using a deductive-quantitative approach which first collects – based on Entman’s (1993) four frame elements – frame sub-dimensions de-rived from the literature and from testing the code book. After coding the articles on climate change in German and Australian quality newspaper using all the frame sub-dimensions, all frame sub-dimensions were aggregated using the statistical technique of a cluster analysis via SPSS as well as contingency tables and t-tests.

To identify the different frame sub-dimensions in the second stage coding, the focal words

“Klimawandel”/”climate change” and “Erderwärmung”/”global warming” were first high-lighted in the text. Second, the whole phrase in which the focal words appear was analysed to identify the frame sub-dimensions. The context of this central phrase was scrutinized to check if it supports the findings (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: Analysis model

Source: own figure

To explain the coding process, first, an article from Süddeutsche Zeitung is taken and the example in Figure 8 shows that the keyword “climate change [Klimawandel]” is connected

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with “gives beekeepers a raw deal [spielt den Imkern übel mit]” which represents the frame element “Problem definition” and implies that “climate change exists and is a problem”.

The “loss of one third of the bee colonies [Verlust von einem Drittel der Bienenvölker]”

refers to the frame element “Causal Interpretation (Effects of Climate Change)” and stands for the frame sub-dimension “Effects on Nature: Changes in biodiversity – negative conse-quences” because it explains the negative consequences of climate change, in this case a warm winter for the bees.

Figure 8: Coding example/Süddeutsche Zeitung

Source: own figure

An example from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (see Figure 9) discusses the consequences of carbon emissions on climate change. The “problem definition” is “climate change exists and is a problem” due to the fact that the keyword “climate change” is connected with the statement that “thirty million tonnes (gigatons) of carbon are emitted into the atmosphere every year and contribute to climate change [gelangen jährlich fast dreißig Milliarden Ton-nen (GigatonTon-nen) des Treibhausgases in die Atmosphäre und tragen so zum Klimawandel bei]. The “problem definition” is further supported by the term “climate killer [Klimakiller]”. Moreover, the text implies that “human activities [menschliche Aktivitäten]”

are the cause of these emissions and, thus, of climate change. This represents the sub-dimen-sion “Human activities, in general” in the frame element “Causal interpretation (causes of climate change)”. The statement that “carbon emissions must be reduced drastically

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sionen müssen drastisch vermindert werden]” represents the sub-dimension “General reduc-tion of greenhouse gases – internareduc-tional focus” of the frame element “Treatment recommen-dation”.

Figure 9: Coding example/Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Source: own figure

The following extract from “The Age” is an example of the minimum requirement regarding coding: in this article, only a “problem definition” can be found. By referring to “its associ-ated consequences” and connecting it to “the issue of our lifetime”, it implies that “climate change exists and is a problem” (see Figure 10).

Figure 10: Coding example/The Age

Source: own figure

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The last example – from The Sydney Morning Herald (see Figure 11) – states that “the most serious aspect of climate change is the equity dimensions of the problem” and, consequently, defines the “problem definition” as “climate change exists and is a problem”. In this context, it connects climate change with the “increase in concentration of greenhouse gases”. The article also clearly identifies the “responsibility” saying that it “lies with the developed coun-tries”. The second paragraph shown in Figure 10 concerns the economic aspects. It says – using the example of India – that its “own path of development” is necessary, looking at

“reasons of energy security, reduced local pollution and in several respects the creation of new employment”. This refers to the “treatment recommendation” that “economic aspects must be changed because of climate change”.

Figure 11: Coding example/The Sydney Morning Herald

Source: own figure

To test the reliability of the coding process, a second sample was taken from the sample of 1,012 articles. This sample included five articles from each of the four newspapers and for both events, including the search term “Klimawandel/climate change” as well as five articles including the search term “Klimaerwärmung/global warming”. So, a sample of 80 articles was coded a second time.

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Altogether 170 frame sub-dimensions were identified, 47 per cent of which refer to the frame element “Problem definition” (n = 80), 9 per cent to the frame element “Causal Interpretation (causes of climate change)” (n = 15), 21 per cent to “Causal interpretation (effects of climate change)” (n = 35), 3 per cent to “Responsibility” (n = 5) and 21 per cent to the frame element

“Treatment recommendation” (n = 35).

The frame element “Problem definition”, which, at the very least, must be part of each arti-cle, achieves a coefficient of 0.98. The frame element “Causal interpretation (causes of cli-mate change)” gets a coefficient of 0.87. The frame element “Causal interpretation (effects of climate change)” has a coefficient of 0.80. And the frame element “Treatment recommen-dation” achieves a coefficient of 0.74. Only the frame element “Responsibility” has a rather poor coefficient of 0.40. However, this frame element was not included in the analysis be-cause only 19 of 1,012 articles include a responsibility frame sub-dimension. So, the poor reliability of the “Responsibility” frame element does not influence the analysis and the re-sults of this research (see Appendix B).

The weighted average coefficient was 0.87 (see Appendix C). As a perfect coefficient has a value of 1, the weighted average coefficient of all five frame elements suggests good relia-bility (Raup and Vogelsang 2009, p. xiv).

The coefficient for the actors was 0.87, the coefficient of the form of expression (comment-ing/informing) was 0.89 (see Appendix B).