ABSTRACT

In summer 2019, several countries in Europe experienced unprecedented heatwaves. Two extreme event attribution (EEA) studies, which assess the role of climate change in extreme weather events, were published at roughly the same time as the heatwaves were taking place (June/August 2019). Building on a prior study of online news media coverage of the heatwaves, this study surveyed journalists from major news outlets in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Based on the responses of 42 journalists, we found a relative lack of knowledge about EEA studies but a high level of importance assigned to writing about the link between the heatwaves and climate change (e.g., likelihood or intensity); a relatively low number of specialist reporters vs. general reporters covering the heatwaves; a strong reliance on scientific experts as sources; no inclusion of climate change deniers; stronger role perceptions as educators than advocates; relatively little time and resource constraints on their reporting; and an overall tendency for the journalists to report more about climate change. The findings provide new insights into journalism practice and climate journalism in terms of the peculiarities and contextual factors that can influence coverage of extreme weather events and climate change.

摘要

2019年夏季，欧洲多个国家经历了前所未有的热浪。两项评估气候变化在极端天气事件中的作用的极端事件归因 (EEA) 研究大约在热浪发生的同时（2019 年 6 月/8 月）发布。在之前对在线新闻媒体报道热浪的研究的基础上，本研究对来自法国、德国、荷兰和英国的主要新闻媒体的记者进行了调查。根据 42 名记者的回答，我们发现对欧洲经济区研究的了解相对不足，但高度重视撰写有关热浪与气候变化之间联系的文章（例如可能性或强度）；与报道热浪的普通记者相比，专业记者数量相对较少；高度依赖科学专家作为来源；不包括气候变化否认者；作为教育者的角色认知比倡导者更强；其报告的时间和资源限制相对较少；以及记者更多地报道气候变化的总体趋势。这些发现从影响极端天气事件和气候变化报道的特点和背景因素方面为新闻实践和气候新闻提供了新的见解。