Frequent or freakish? Framing bushfires in the context of climate change

<p>This thesis explores media coverage of catastrophic bushfires in Australia across three large-circulation newspapers. It compares the ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires of February 2009 and the ‘Black Summer’ bushfire disaster of 2019-20 to discover how fire is framed within Australian newspaper outlets, and how this has changed in the context of a warming world. The research takes a longitudinal approach to investigate how shifts in knowledge and interpretation have changed the communication of bushfires and climate change. A series of media frames are identified and discussed in relation to their general tendencies, social, cultural and political relations, and persuasive effects. Qualitative framing analysis is used to identify key shifts and frame adaptations influencing public perceptions about solving bushfire risks and dealing with climate change. Multimodal analysis provides examples of how variations in each frame category were crafted and used in newspaper coverage. The thesis outlines that in 2009 the most common frames for news media reporting on bushfires centred on accusations of arson and speculations about natural causes. Through qualitative framing analysis the research reveals a shift in the ten years between the fire events towards localised fire resilience and climate change adaptation. Findings also reveal that climate change framing has grown: bushfires in 2020 are no longer interpreted as a feature of Gaia’s wrath or the evil of arson, but as an observable phenomenon attributable to anthropogenic climate change. In sum, the thesis evidences how media communications may have influenced the perception that increasing climate change requires national adaptation, so that we may all welcome fire through the front gate.<p>

Author dc:creator

• Trull, Matthew Xenophon

Statement dc:rights

• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
• © 2023 Matthew Xenophon Trull
• au.edu.uts.lib/cph

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/182349

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.lib.uts.edu.au:10453/182349