Representation(s) of Developed and Developing Countries in Newspapers’ Coverage of Climate Conferences: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study critically analysed how developed and developing countries were represented in The Independent and The New York Times’ coverage of the Conferences of the Parties to the UNFCCC between 2004 and 2013. The method of analysis was a qualitative critical discourse analysis in accordance with Fairclough’s (1989) framework with the support of corpus techniques.The research findings showed that there were distinct responsibilities for climate change ascribed to the developed and the developing countries. While the developed countries were represented as being reluctant and indifferent towards their responsibility, the developing countries tended to depend on the developed countries’ support in solving their climate-related problems. During the study period, therefore, no consensus could be reached on a common framework for climate change. The linguistic features of lexical choice, passivisation, nominalisation, modality and metaphor were found ideologically employed in the newspapers’ representations of the countries. Additionally, the ideologies and their linguistic manifestations were influenced by the media’s discursive practices and the wider social context.