Department of Politics, School of Politics and Communication Studies at Liverpool University, UK.
Public Underst Sci. 2011 May;20(3):422-38. doi: 10.1177/0963662509353377.
The weather is a preoccupation of the British public, and flooding has become a salient feature of their experience. Climate science also has important things to say about the prevalence, distribution and dangers of rainfall and flooding, and what we should expect from global warming. This paper looks at British press coverage of flooding, and at the connections made between this theme and climate change. It aims to expose longitudinal patterning, and assess how common the connection is. From here the analysis moves to specific cases of high profile flooding events for a detailed exploration of the tone and tenor, and discursive contours of reports. The results suggest the media's contribution to genuine debate is mixed, that the connection between common forms of reportage and our scientific understanding of the phenomena is often tenuous. The paper explores the implications for the way the politics of climate change plays out.
天气是英国公众关注的焦点，洪水已成为他们生活中的一个突出特征。气候科学也对降雨和洪水的普遍性、分布和危险，以及我们应该对全球变暖抱有何种期待，有着重要的论述。本文着眼于英国媒体对洪水的报道，以及这一主题与气候变化之间的联系。其目的是揭示纵向模式，并评估这种联系的普遍性。从这里开始，分析转向了高知名度洪水事件的具体案例，以详细探讨报道的语气和基调以及话语轮廓。结果表明，媒体对真正辩论的贡献是好坏参半的，常见的报道形式与我们对这些现象的科学理解之间的联系往往是脆弱的。本文探讨了这对气候变化政治演绎方式的影响。
