Media plays a crucial role in the global fight against climate change, acting as a tool for awareness, advocacy and policy change. For Fiji, this role becomes even more essential with the country’s vulnerable island system facing the direct impact of current and future climate change threats. The primary aim of this study was to analyse climate change coverage in the Fiji press. The Fiji Times , Fiji’s national newspaper, was examined to identify trends in climate change coverage between January 2004 and December 2010. A quantitative analysis was initially carried out to see the volume of reports, followed by a qualitative look into the context and thematic values of the news reports. Empirical findings showed an increase in coverage over time, although there was a transiency in the high levels of coverage when looked at on a monthly basis. Published reports also show a trend of event-based reporting with more than 80 percent of articles being generated out of or following up on a climate change convention, meeting or report launch. An overall consensus on the scientific realities of climate change in the newspaper coverage, and relatively high coverage of impacts and threats of climate change highlighted the plight of the islands. Reporting of climate change issues needs to be prioritised if the press is to fulfill its role in providing timely information on climate change. Journalists training and collaboration with national stakeholders would assist in more effective climate change coverage instead of the great reliance on one-off events to spark recognition of the major environmental problem. Developments in the discourse since this research was conducted will be worth noting as climate change has continued to rise as one of the most salient global environmental issues of our time.

中文翻译：

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斐济报纸对气候变化的报道：内容分析

媒体在全球应对气候变化的斗争中发挥着至关重要的作用，是提高认识、宣传和政策变化的工具。对于斐济而言，该国脆弱的岛屿系统面临当前和未来气候变化威胁的直接影响，因此这一角色变得更加重要。本研究的主要目的是分析斐济媒体对气候变化的报道。斐济的全国性报纸《斐济时报》接受了调查，以确定 2004 年 1 月至 2010 年 12 月期间气候变化报道的趋势。最初进行了定量分析以查看报告数量，然后对环境和主题价值进行定性研究新闻报道。实证结果表明，随着时间的推移，覆盖率有所增加，尽管按月查看时高覆盖率存在短暂性。已发表的报告还显示了基于事件的报告趋势，超过 80% 的文章产生于或跟进气候变化公约、会议或报告发布。报纸报道中对气候变化的科学现实的总体共识，以及气候变化影响和威胁的相对较高的报道突出了岛屿的困境。如果新闻界要发挥其及时提供气候变化信息的作用，就需要优先报道气候变化问题。记者培训和与国家利益相关者的合作将有助于更有效地报道气候变化，而不是过度依赖一次性事件来激发人们对主要环境问题的认识。