Forest-Climate Politics in Bangladesh’s Media Discourse in Comparison to Global Media Discourse

Md. Nazmus Sadath, Max Krott, Carsten Schusser

Chair of Forest and Nature Conservation Policy, Georg August University Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.
Chair of Forest and Nature Conservation Policy, Georg August University Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany;Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.

DOI: 10.4236/ojf.2013.31001                

Abstract

Forest and climate issues are prominent within the policies and media in Bangladesh, as well as on the global level. In this study, media discourses from 1989 to 2010 from the “International Herald Tribune” and “The Daily Ittefaq” ofBangladeshare analyzed. Quantitative content analysis classifies 16 frames of the forest and climate issue and 17 political actors. Substantial differences between the forest and climate discourses of the national and international media have been discovered. The national print media reports that the forest is in a crisis due to climate change, whereas the international print media describes the forest as a solution opportunity to climate change. The hypothesis that the international media drives the national media discourse is rejected. The national media forest and climate discourse in Bangladesh began five years earlier than in the international media, and the different framing of the forest and climate issues can be explained by the influence of strong actors on both the national and international level. Journalists and politicians are the strongest influences in the national print media (The Daily Ittefaq) and primarily frame the discussion around the adverse impact of climate change on the forest inBangladesh, a country that faces potentially severe effects from climate change. By stressing that climate change has caused a forest crisis, the national media brings attention to a threat that they are not responsible for. Scientists, Non-Governmental Organizations and international organizations are the major voices in the international print media (International Herald Tribune). They shape the global forest and climate media discourse around the wider scope of forests’ role in climate change. International scientists and NGOs present themselves as problem solvers of climate change by framing the discussion around the mitigating role of the forests. These strategic arguments explain the differences in media discourse.

Keywords

Climate Change; Forest-Climate Discourse; Political Actor; Media Framing

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Ali, A. (1999). Climate change impacts and adaptation assessment in Bangladesh. Climate Research, 12, 109-116. doi:10.3354/cr012109
[2]	Arts, B., Appelstrand, M., Kleinschmit, D., Pülzl, H., Visseren-Ha- makers, I. et al. (2010). Discourses, actors and instruments in international forest governance. In: J. Raynor, A. Buck, & P. Katila (Eds.), Embracing complexity: Meeting the challenges of international forest governance. IUFRO.
[3]	Bendford, R. D., & Snow, D. A. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611-639.
[4]	Boykoff, M. T., & Boykoff, J. M. (2004). Balance as bias: Global warming and the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change, 14, 125-136. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.10.001
[5]	Chong, D., & Druckman, J. N. (2007). Framing theory. Annual Review of Political Science, 10, 103-126. doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054
[6]	Curran, J. (2002). Media and power. London/New York: Routledge.
[7]	Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43, 51-58.
[8]	Etkin, D., & Ho, E. (2007). Climate change: Perceptions and discourses of risk. Journal of Risk Research, 10, 623-641. doi:10.1080/13669870701281462
[9]	Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: A critical study of language. London: Longman.
[10]	Feindt, P. H., & Kleinschmit, D. (2011). The BSC crisis in German newspapers: Reframing responsibility. Science as Culture, 20, 183-208. doi:10.1080/09505431.2011.563569
[11]	Gerhards, J. (1994) Politische offentlichkeit. Ein system und akteurstheoretischer bestimmungsversuch. In F. Neidhardt (Ed.), offentlichkeit, offentliche meinung, soziale bewegungen, kolner zeitschrift für soziologie und sozialpsychologie, sonderheft 34/1994 (pp. 77-105). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
[12]	Glück, P. (1986). Seminar “Waldsterben und offentlichkeitsarbeit”. Allgemeine Fosrtzeitung, 97, 359-364.
[13]	Hajer, M. A. (1995). The politics of environmental discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[14]	Hardt, F. (2004). Mapping the world: New perspectives in the humanities and social sciences. Tübingen: Francke Verlag.
[15]	Held, D., McGrew, A. et al. (1999). Global transformations: Politics, economics and culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[16]	Holzberger, R. (1995). Das sogenannte waldsterben. Zur Karrier eines klisches: Das thema wald im journalistischen diskurs. Bergatreute: Eppe .
[17]	Huq, S., Karim, Z., Asaduzzaman, M., & Mahtab, F. (1999). Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change for Bangladesh. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
[18]	IHT (2012). A short history on the international herald tribune. URL. http://www.ihtinfo.com/media/59755/iht2064_short_history_2012-5.pdf
[19]	Jacoby, W. (2000). Imitation and politics; redesigning modern Germany. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
[20]	Keller, R. (1997). Diskursanalyse. In R. Hitzler, & A. Honer (Eds.), Sozialwissenschaftliche hermeneutik, Opladen: Leske Und Budrich.
[21]	Kingdon, J. W. (2003). Agendas, alternatives and public policies. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.
[22]	Kleinschmit, D. (2012). Confronting the demands of a deliberative public sphere with media constraints. Forest Polica and Economic, 16, 71-80.
[23]	Kleinchmit, D., & Krott, M. (2008). The media in forestry: Government, governance and social visibility. In T. Sikor (Ed.), Public and private in natural resource governance: A false dichotomy? London: Earthscan.
[24]	Kleinschmit, D., Sadath, N., Park, M. S., & Real, A. (2009). Mthods for media analysis on forest climate policies: A thematic coading book. Working Paper. Gottingen: Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Institue, Georg August University Gottingen. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2010.02.013
[25]	Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content analysis an introduction to its Methodology. London: Sage.
[26]	Krott, M. (2005). Forest policy analysi. New York: Springer.
[27]	Leakey, R., & Lewin, R. (1995). The sixth extinction: Biodiversity and its survival. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
[28]	Levin, K., McDermott, C., & Cashore, B. (2008). The climate regime as globel forest governance: Can reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) initiatives pass a “dual effectiveness” test? International Forest Review, 10, 538-549. doi:10.1505/ifor.10.3.538
[29]	Mazur, A., & Lee, J. (1993). Sounding the global alarm: Environmental issues in the US national news. Social Studies of Science, 23, 681-720. doi:10.1177/030631293023004003
[30]	mcQuail, D. (1994). Mass communication theory: An introduction. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE.
[31]	McQuail, D. (2010). Global mass communication. In D. McQuail (Ed.), McQuail’s mass communication theory (6th ed.) (pp. 247-270). Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC: SAGE.
[32]	MoEF (2008). Bangladesh climate change strategy and action plan 2008. Dhaka: Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
[33]	Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods qualitative and quantitavie approach (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
[34]	Park, M. S. (2009). Media discourses in forest communication: The issue of forest conservation in the Korean and global media. Gottingen: Cluvillier Verlag.
[35]	Pimm, S. L., & Brooks, T. M. (2000). The sixth extinction: How large, howsoon, and where? Nature and human society: The quest for a sustainable world. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
[36]	Prittwiz, V. (1990). Das Katastrophen-Paradox, Elemente einer Theorie der Umvelt politik. Opladen: Leske Und Budrich.
[37]	Rahman, M. (2010). Climate change coverage on the mass media of Bangladesh. Global Media Journal pakistan edition, 3.
[38]	Real, A. (2009). Discourses and distortions: Dimensions of global and national forest science communication. Gottingen: Faculty of Forest Science, Georg August University Gottingen.
[39]	Reese, S. D. (2001). Framing public life. Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world. Mahwah.
[40]	Reese, S. D. (2010). Journalism and globalization. Sociology Compass, 4, 344-353. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00282.x
[41]	Sadath, M. N., Kleinschmit, D., & Giessen, L. (2012). Framing the tiger: Incongruent media discourses at different political levels as an obstacle for biodiversity governance. Forest Policy and Economics (in Review Process).
[42]	Schafer, M. (2008). Medialisierung der wissenschaft? Empirische untersuchung eines wissenschaftssoziologischen konzept. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 37, 2006-225.
[43]	Semetko, H., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2000). Framing European politics: Acontent analysis of press and television news. Journal of Communication, 93-109.
[44]	Somorin, O. A., Brown, H. C., Visseren-Hamakers, I. J., Sonwa, D. J., Arts, B., & Nkemd, J. (2011). The Congo Basin forests in a changing climate: Policy discourses on adaptation and mitigation (REDD+). Global Environmental Change, 22.
[45]	Sparks, C. (1998). Is there a global public sphere? In D. K. Thussu (Ed.), Electronic empires: Global media and resistance (pp. 108-124). London: Arnold.
[46]	Takahashi, B. (2008). Framing climate change: A comparitive analysis of a US and a Canadian newspaper. International Journal of Sustainability Communication, 152-170.
[47]	UNESCO (1997). The media and the challenge of the new tecnology. World Communication Report, Paris.
[48]	Wu, H. D. (1998). Investigating the determinants of international news flow: A media analysis. International Communication Gazette, 60, 493-506. doi:10.1177/0016549298060006003