Framing Energy: A Content Analysis of Spanish Press Energy Issue Coverage from an Environmental Approach in the Context of Climate Change

Abstract

This study presents four specific news frames concerning the environment (eco-frames) applied to the media coverage of the energy issue. These stem from transnationally available cultural frameworks that serve as interpretative patterns. It examines how three Spanish newspapers (El País, ABC and Público) use the eco-indifferent, eco-efficient, eco-sustainable and eco-radical frames in the reporting of energy issue over ten years (2009–2019). Thus, this study aims to determine the extent to which sources and editorial lines influence frame building. The results of analysing 1095 news items confirm the relationship between the papers’ editorial lines and eco-frames, though what stands out in all the papers is economics-based eco-indifference. In the economy section, neither the main sources (industry) nor the journalists consider the environmental angle while reporting on the energy sector. Energy as an issue is, above all, an economic topic, even in the global context of the fight against climate change. A correlation between a particular type of source and frame was found, thus expanding the understanding of the role sources play as framing devices in journalistic texts. From a constructionist perspective, this work contributes to framing research by linking news frames construction to a repertoire of global cultural echoes.

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