As climate change is a development that happens slowly and is widely invisible, many photographers have made it their mission to visualize its causes and impacts on society. Since the early 2000s, they have established visual synecdoches by using repetitive formulas for their images to show the vulnerability of natural and human systems. Whereas such repetition creates awareness and recognition within society, still there is also criticism that any attempt to visualize climate change often leads to the same representations of melting ice, Polar Bears or natural disasters.
The purpose of this work is to find out which repetitive motives are used by the media and how these motives affect the people. By means of a mixed method approach, it examines if the flagships of climate change imageries (such as the polar bear) still promote salience to the audience and if images of climate change solutions evoke positive feelings and can therefore be considered as motivating.
In order to answer the question which climate change imageries are used by the media, a quantitative analysis of image types according to Grittmann and Ammann is conducted. This analysis shows that there are leading motives which are repetitively used as visualizations to accompany online news reports, among them mainly images of causes (smokestacks) and impacts (wildfire, ice imagery and extreme weather). The media rarely report on climate change solutions.
In a second step, a sample of ten images of these leadings motives is selected for the explorative research of image effects. By means of the Visual Communication Process Model (Müller, Kappas, and Olk), it examines how people visually perceive these images, how they understand and interpret them and what emotions they cause. The effects are measured with a self-administered online questionnaire. The results of the survey reveal that the repetition of motives and the use of flagships does not lead to climate fatigue.
Anyway, there is only one solution imagery that clearly verifies the positive effects on the self-efficacy level of the audience. Although such imageries receive attention on social media, they have not reached the mass media so far which could serve as a starting point for future research.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Part
2.1. Climate Change Communication
2.1.1. Media Coverage Trends in the 2000s
2.1.2. Stakeholders in Climate Change Communication
2.1.3. Challenges of Science Journalism
2.1.4. Psychological Effects of Communication
2.1.5. Science Literacy
2.1.6. Summary and Comment
2.2. Visual Climate Change Communication
2.2.1. Visual Science Communication
2.2.2. Definition: The Use of the Term Image
2.2.3. Climate Change Imagery
2.2.3.1. People
2.2.3.2. Causes
2.2.3.3. Impacts
2.2.3.4. The Role of Animal Imagery
2.2.3.5. Solutions
2.2.4. Summary and Hypothesis
3. Method
3.1. Excursus: Scientific Analysis Methods
3.1.1. Quantitative Analysis of Image Types
3.1.2. Visual Communication Process Model
3.2. Conception of the Research Plan
3.2.1. Sample Selection – Research Criteria
3.2.2. Explorative Research of Image Effects via Online Survey
3.2.3. Definition of the Target Group
4. Results
4.1. Quantitative Analysis of Image Types
4.1.1. Results Germany
4.1.2. Results UK
4.1.3. Results US
4.1.4. Results Instagram
4.1.5. Summary and Discussion
4.2. Explorative Research of Image Effects – Evaluation of the Survey Results
4.2.1. Basic Statistics
4.2.2. Previous Knowledge of the Participants
4.2.3. Excursus: Scale Definition
4.2.4. The Effects of People Imagery on the Participants
4.2.5. The Effects of Causes Imagery on the Participants
4.2.6. The Effects of Impacts Imagery on the Participants
4.2.7. The Effects of Solutions Imagery on the Participants
5. Discussion
5.1. Assessment on the Salience of the Flagships
5.2. Assessment on the Self-Efficacy-Level of Climate Change Solution Imagery
5.3. Conclusion
Objectives and Research Focus
The thesis examines the role of repetitive climate change imagery in media coverage, specifically investigating whether established "flagship" visuals (such as polar bears or smokestacks) continue to promote audience salience and whether solution-oriented imagery can effectively enhance feelings of self-efficacy.
- Analysis of media coverage trends and the use of visual synecdoches in climate reporting.
- Evaluation of "flagship" visual domains: people, causes, impacts, and solutions.
- Quantitative analysis of image types across Germany, UK, US, and Instagram.
- Explorative research on audience perception using the Visual Communication Process Model.
- Assessment of the link between climate change imagery and psychological states like motivation and cynicism.
Excerpt from the Book
2.2.3. Climate Change Imagery
The photojournalist Gary Braasch initiated a long-term documentary project dedicated “to tell the story of rapid climate change […] and the actions it makes necessary” (Braasch, 2014). He considered climate change to be a “generally misunderstood and muted issue” (ibid.) because the influence of human activities on global warming was still largely excluded from the public discussion in the late 90s. It was his aim to correct this misunderstanding and to make climate change visible und thereby understandable for the public.
Since the early 2000s, many photographers have followed Braasch’s approach using the invisibility of climate change as starting point for their work. During her analysis of 19 different projects of photojournalists and documentary photographers, Heine noticed that different strategies are used to solve the problem of invisibility.
One strategy is to capture the vulnerability of natural and human systems. Photographers use ideals of intact ecosystems and contrast them with landscapes that are strongly impacted by climate change, such as a vivid coral reef vs. a dead coral reef (Heine, 2019, pp. 230–231). Another strategy is to draw the attention to the actors and practices of climate research like the portrait of a researcher at work (ibid., p. 310).
O’Neill identifies a total of four different visual domains whereof three dominate the visual imagery coverage: images of identifiable people, causes and impacts of climate change. The fourth dimension of solutions covers only a small proportion of the overall coverage (O’Neill, 2019, p. 7) but will be taken into consideration anyway because of the perceived effects such images have on the audience. Besides the pure coverage, the image effects are of particular interest, too.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the problem of visualizing climate change as an invisible, complex issue and establishes the research purpose of analyzing media imagery and its effects.
2. Theoretical Part: Provides background on climate change communication, science journalism challenges, psychological communication effects, and explores visual domains including people, causes, impacts, and solutions.
3. Method: Details the mixed-method approach, combining quantitative content analysis of image types with an explorative online survey based on the Visual Communication Process Model.
4. Results: Presents the quantitative findings from media analysis across different countries and Instagram, alongside the survey results measuring audience emotional and cognitive responses to specific imagery.
5. Discussion: Critically evaluates the salience of current flagships, interprets the study findings against the hypotheses regarding climate fatigue and self-efficacy, and concludes with a summary of the implications for future reporting.
Keywords
Climate Change Communication, Climate Change Imagery, Image Effects, Visual Communication Process Model, Media Coverage, Flagships, Science Journalism, Psychological Effects, Self-Efficacy, Salience, Quantitative Content Analysis, Online Survey, Environmental Communication, Polarization, Digital Media
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The thesis investigates which visual motifs are repetitively used by the media to represent climate change and evaluates the impact of these images on the audience's perception, emotions, and sense of self-efficacy.
What are the primary themes analyzed in the study?
The research focuses on four visual domains: images of people, causes of climate change, impacts of climate change, and potential solutions.
What is the main objective of the thesis?
The primary goal is to determine if traditional "flagship" images—like polar bears or smokestacks—still effectively capture audience attention and whether solution-oriented visuals can serve as a catalyst for motivating climate-conscious behavior.
Which scientific methods are utilized?
The work employs a mixed-method approach, utilizing quantitative content analysis of image types as well as an explorative online survey evaluated via the Visual Communication Process Model.
What topics are covered in the main section of the paper?
The main section covers the theoretical framework of climate communication, the quantitative analysis of news imagery in the US, UK, and Germany, and an in-depth explorative study on how these images influence viewer emotions.
Which keywords define this study?
Key terms include Climate Change Communication, Climate Change Imagery, Image Effects, Visual Communication Process Model, and Self-Efficacy.
How do algorithms influence the imagery discovered?
The study notes that search results are heavily dependent on algorithms, which tend to prioritize specific "flagship" images, potentially limiting the diversity of climate change representations available to the public.
Does the study confirm that repeated images lead to climate fatigue?
No, the findings contradict the common assumption that frequent exposure to the same imagery leads to climate fatigue, as participants still reported significant levels of concern and motivation when viewing these images.
How do the findings regarding "Green Stocks" imagery relate to the hypothesis?
While the study could not clearly verify if green stocks imagery evokes the positive emotions needed to test self-efficacy, it revealed that most participants struggle to interpret these images without additional context, highlighting a need for better visual clarity.
- Citar trabajo
- Jana Mengede (Autor), 2021, Flagships or phase-out models for climate change communication? An analysis of the effects of climate change imagery on the audience, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1156909
