FRAMING OF RENEWABLES IN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS THE … · state politics regarding South...

FRAMING OF RENEWABLES IN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS: THE SNOWY HYDRO CASE STUDY

Published by the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub

Authors: Brooke Garas

Please cite this report as:

Garas, B (2018) Framing of Renewables in Australian Newspapers: The Snowy Hydro Case Study, Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University, Melbourne, 44.

URL for this report is:

http://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/research/framing-of-renewables-in-australian-newspapers-the-snowy-hydro-case

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out with financial support from Monash University, Faculty of Arts and assistance from Monash Professional Pathways Program.

The Hub would like to thank Dr. David Holmes for advice and guidance throughout the course of the project. Tahnee Burgess for guiding me through NVivo and her research on the SA mid-latitude cyclone.

Australian copyright law applies. For permission to reproduce any part of this report, please contact the corresponding author,

Dr. David Holmes, Director, Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub at [email protected]

Cover Design: Tahnee Burgess

3

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... 4

1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 5

2 Background ................................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Fossil fuel and Australia .............................................................................................. 6

2.2 Renewable energy and Australia ................................................................................ 6

2.3 Reporting on renewables ........................................................................................... 7

2.4 Framing .................................................................................................................... 8

3 Case study: Snowy Hydro .............................................................................................. 9

3.1 Background .............................................................................................................. 9

3.2 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 11

4 Findings and discussion: explaining the divisions in reporting ....................................... 14

4.1 Media releases led the discourse on the Snowy Hydro expansion ............................. 14

4.2 Energy security ........................................................................................................ 14

4.3 Political ................................................................................................................... 18

4.4 Economic ............................................................................................................... 21

4.5 Environmental ......................................................................................................... 21

4.6 Technical and cultural .............................................................................................. 24

5 Conclusion: why are Australian newspapers divided on how they frame renewables? .. 25

6 References ................................................................................................................... 28

4

Executive Summary:

• The difference in the framing of renewable energy in Australian newspapers was correlated with both corporate ownership and regional influences.

• In articles mentioning climate change, 68% of articles had a negative sentiment

towards renewables and 32% had a positive sentiment.

• News Corp Australia had a greater focus on fossil fuel narratives. Their discussion of renewables was only 36% positive, mostly focusing on the Snowy Hydro scheme. This is compared to 51% positive coverage in Fairfax, which focused on renewables as a solution to energy security.

• Discussion of Renewable energy targets (RET) featured in only 20% of articles.

• There was a marked difference in political sentiments relating to renewable energy.

Fairfax tended towards left-leaning sentiment in reporting on renewable energy and News Corp Australia had a clear preference to the right.

• 73% of articles used politicians as key actors in the discourse, of this 58% were

LNP and 48% were ALP. This is compared to 10% of articles referencing renewable energy actors and 44% from energy resource companies.

• Overwhelmingly, articles in the Snowy Hydro case study used ‘energy security’ in their framing of renewable energy, closely followed by economic and political frames. Of this, fossil fuels were offered as a solution in 42% of articles while hydroelectricity was presented as a solution in 48%. The discussion of batteries and gas also featured heavily, mimicking the political conflict between federal and state politics regarding South Australia’s energy plan.

• Less than a third of articles used environmental narratives to frame renewables.

• Only 13% of articles mentioned climate change at all. Of this discussion of climate

change, 46% of the articles were skeptical and 54% were a positive discussion of climate change.

• Regional issues were a clear influence on discourse related to energy security

topics. South Australian media coverage was proportionately higher than the other Australian regions. Victorian and national media also provided high coverage on the issue.

• 12% of News Corp Australia articles framed renewables as causing a reduction of

jobs compared to 3% Fairfax.

5

FRAMING OF RENEWABLES IN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS

1 Introduction Now, more than ever, climate change communication needs to focus on mitigation. Anthropogenic climate change is real and it is already negatively impacting our lives with an increase in heatwaves, drought, bushfires, and extreme weather events (CSIRO & Bureau of Meteorology [BoM] 2015, p. 6; BoM & CSIRO 2016; Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017, p. 19). Experts warn urgent action is required to reduce the likelihood of potentially devastating climate scenarios being realised (Pachauri et al. 2015, p. v; Rockström et al. 2017; Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017, p. ii). The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) also warns the current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trajectory is not in line with limiting global warming to 1.5˚C to 2˚C, in accordance with the internationally binding Paris Agreement (Victor et al. 2014, p. 113). This highlights the urgent need to focus climate change communication on solutions.

Solutions, such as ending Australia’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels (Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017, p. 5; Walker & Mason 2015, p. 44). In 2014/15, the combustion of fossil fuels accounted for 94% of Australia’s energy consumption, with electricity the biggest producer (Department of Industry, Innovation & Science 2016b, pp. 7–9). In 2016, 82.7% of Australia’s electricity production was generated from fossil fuels (Clean Energy Council 2016, p. 8). While climate change cannot simply be stopped or reversed, it is clear a move to renewable energy will form one of the cornerstones in the mitigation efforts (Biggs 2016, p. 203; Pachauri et al. 2015, p. 82; Rockström et al. 2017, p. 1269). However, this transition will require a shift in political, cultural and economic belief systems for change to be successful (Hall, Ashworth & Devine-Wright 2013; Rockström et al. 2017; Duncan & Sovacool 2011; Steffen Alexander & Rice 2017). An important component of this transition has to be the news media.

The news media, especially newspapers, still hold a considerable amount of influence over the public and politicians (Carvalho 2010, p. 172; Manne 2011, p.2; Speck 2010). The role of the media in climate change communication has been extensively studied (e.g. see Schäfer & Schlichting 2014), however, relatively few have studied its role in renewable energy communication. Given the importance of renewable energy as a mitigation strategy (e.g. Biggs 2016, p. 203) and the influence the media has on the public and politicians (Bacon & Nash 2012, p. 245; Carvalho 2010, p. 172), it is important to understand the role of the media in communicating the importance of renewable energy adoption.

6

2 Background

2.1 Fossil fuel and Australia As one 179 of 197 Parties to ratify the Paris Agreement (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2016), Australia has reaffirmed its commitment to the 2˚C goal and agrees to make efforts to keep warming below 1.5˚C, which is a threshold where there is a greatly increased risk of devastating impacts on the most vulnerable nations (Center for Climate & Energy Solutions 2016, p.2; Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017, p. 20). Globally the mean temperature rise is already 1˚C higher than pre-industrial revolution (NASA 2017, para. 6), and even if all GHG emissions were to stop immediately, the committed warming will likely see temperatures increase to at least 1.5˚C by the end of the century (Mauritsen & Pincus 2017, p. 652; Ramanathan & Feng 2008; Rood 2014). Even once the temperature has stabilised, we are unlikely to revert to preindustrial temperatures as it will take millennia for the carbon to leave the atmosphere without intervention (Mauritsen & Pincus 2017; Ramanathan & Feng 2008; Rood 2014, para. 6).

The primary drivers of climate change are the release of additional GHGs into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, agricultural practices and deforestation (Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017, p. 3; Victor et al. 2014, p. 142). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is responsible for approximately three quarters of the anthropogenic GHG emissions (Pachauri et al. 2015, p. 46). Since the industrial revolution, the carbon in the atmosphere has risen from 280 ppm to 400 ppm (BoM & CSIRO 2016, p. 18; World Meteorological Organization 2016, para. 1). Globally, carbon based energy production through the combustion of fossil fuels accounts 56.6% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions (Moomaw et al. 2011, p. 167). In Australia, carbon based energy accounts for 94% of Australia's energy use with electricity production the biggest emitter (Department of Industry Innovation & Science 2016b, pp. 7–9). Flannery (2015, p. 79) argues burning coal for electricity is the world’s single largest source of carbon pollution. In 2015, Australia was the fourth largest coal producer in the world and the largest exporter (Department of Industry, Innovation & Science 2016a, p. 1). Steffen et al. (2017, p. 8 ) argue to have a 50% chance of keeping warming below 2˚C, more than 90% of Australia’s coal needs to be left in the ground. Highlighting the need for Australia to overcome its reliance on fossil fuels for energy, especially in electricity production, if it is to address the climate change crisis and meet its international commitment to the Paris Agreement (Biggs 2016, p. 203).

2.2 Renewable energy and Australia Australia is rich in renewable energy resources (Department of Industry Innovation & Science 2016b, p. 22; Effendi & Courvisanos 2012 p. 246). Wind, solar and wave energy potentials are some of the best in the world, along with other resources such as tidal, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectricity (Department of Industry Innovation & Science 2016b, p. 22). In 2016, 17.3% of Australia’s electricity production was from renewable sources (Clean Energy Council 2017, p. 8).

While the technologies to convert these energy sources into renewable energy are readily available and have been shown to be economically viable (Steffen et al. 2017, p. 12), there are still major barriers to large-scale adoption (e.g. Byrnes et al. 2013, p. 719; Duncan & Sovacool 2011, p. 283). Duncan and Sovacool (2011, p. 284) categorised these barriers as either technical, economic, political or social. Duncan and Sovacool (2011) argue these barriers are often perceived barriers that stem from misinformation delivered by politicians and a skeptical media.

7

Despite the barriers to renewable energy uptake, Australia has seen a marked increase in their adoption (Clean Energy Council 2017, p.8; Department of the Environment & Energy 2017). The Clean Energy Council (2016, p. 8) reported renewable energy provided 17.3% of Australia's electricity in 2016, significantly higher than the 14.6% the previous year. They also reported an increase in wind farms and large scale solar farms during this time, and forecast 2017 to be the biggest in year in 50 years for large scale renewable energy projects (Clean Energy Council 2016, p. 24). Australia is also a global leader in household solar connection with 1.3 million installations recorded by mid-2014 (Flannery 2015, p. 122), and by the end of 2016 there were more than 1.6 million solar household and business installations of 100 kW or less (Clean Energy Council 2016, p. 42).

2.3 Reporting on renewables Newspapers play a major role in the public perception of complex issues (Boykoff & Boykoff 2004; Feldman et al. 2014; McGaurr, Lester & Painter 2013). Teräväinen (2014, p. 301) argues they play ‘an important role in translations between science, policy and the public’. Even in today’s new media environment of easily accessible online content, fragmented audiences and social media, newspapers still hold a high level of influence over the public, politicians, thought leaders and decision makers, as well as other forms of media (Manne 2011, p.4; Opt & Low 2015; Schäfer & Schlichting 2014, p. 143; Speck 2010, p. 125).

According to Roy Morgan Research (2017), during 2016 more than eight million Australians read print newspapers in an average week. Although readership is down 4.3% since 2015, they reached 41% of Australians over 14 years old (Roy Morgan Research 2017). Importantly, the cross-platform (print and digital) results showed the mastheads reached 13.1 million Australians in an average week (Roy Morgan Research 2017). These figures highlight the importance of newspapers, print or online, in delivering content to Australians. Given their reach and influence, it is important to understand how newspaper content is influenced.

In Australia, media reporting of climate change has been blamed, in part, for the clear divergence of public opinion from the scientific consensus (Carvalho 2007, p. 223; McGaurr, Lester & Painter 2013, p.26). Academic literature attributes this phenomenon to the mass media overemphasising the views of the small number of sceptics, creating uncertainty, and underrepresenting academics and scientists (Fisk, Fitzgerald & Cokley 2014; Hurlimann & Dolnicar 2012; McGaurr, Lester & Painter 2013). One of the most notable factors influencing Australian newspapers is corporate ownership (Manne 2011; McGaurr, Lester & Painter 2013; Waitt, Farbotko & Criddle 2012; Wei et al. 2015). Australia is also unique as one company, News Corp Australia, has overwhelming control of the metropolitan and national daily newspapers with 65% of circulation, followed by Fairfax with 25%, and WA Newspapers (now Seven West Media) with 8% (Finkelstein 2012, p. 58).

Aside from control over metro and daily newspapers, News Corp Australia also owns Australia’s only general national daily newspaper, The Australian, which Manne (2011, p. 5) argues affords the editors a great deal of political influence. Speck (2010, p. 132) argues the political impact of newspapers in Australia is particularly evident, in part owing to mandatory voting making the perceived public opinion critical in policy formation. This is significant as generally newspapers owned by News Corp Australia are right-leaning, and Fairfax left-leaning (Simons 2007). Political influence is important as there is a strong relationship between belief systems and partisan alignment (Hart & Nisbet 2012, p. 702; Nisbet 2009, p. 14). Additionally, Schäfer, Ivanova and Schmidt (2013, p. 18) found Australian politics significantly influences the media attention on climate change. Furthermore, research into climate change has found, like personal belief systems, there is a strong correlation

8

between partisan alignment and climate change belief (Funk & Kennedy 2016, p. 5; Hart & Nisbet 2012, p. 715).

While there appears to be a clear link between climate change, news media ownership and partisan alignment, the lines are not as defined when it comes to renewable energy. There are relatively few comparable studies examining renewable energy in the media, instead the focus of renewable energy in these studies looks at regional impact or policy versus national newspapers (e.g. Hindmarsh 2014; Stephens, Rand & Melnick 2009). Many of these studies have not interrogated framing from an ownership or political perspective, which has been shown to be influential in climate change framing (e.g. Manne 2011; Nisbet 2009).

2.4 Framing ‘There is no such thing as unframed information’ (Nisbet 2009, p.15). From internalised frames based on individual experiences and values, to the way plots are presented in television shows, frames help with the interpretation of information (Lakoff 2014; Nisbet 2009). Framing refers to the way information is presented and reflects a tone or opinion (Entman, 1993, p. 52). It uses words, images, presentation and styles to highlight specific aspects of a subject to promote a particular interpretation (Bolsen 2011, p. 144). Lakoff (2014, p.xi) contends frames also exist as part of our unconscious; they are ‘mental structures that shape the way we see the world’. He argues, from a cognitive science perspective, our unconscious frames can be activated through language (2014, p. xii). For example, it is impossible to hear the word ‘dog’ without conjuring up an image, feeling or memory based on past experiences: a pre-existing frame for dog. While framing is often unconscious, it is an essential skill in professions such a politics and journalism (Entman 1993, p. 56; Lakoff 2010, p. xi; Scheufele 1999, p. 115).

Similarly, journalists use frames to both garner interest in a story and influence public opinion (Entman 1993, p. 57; Hansen 2011, p. 10). For example, in Australia the News Corp Australia newspapers use the ‘uncertainty’ and ‘conflict’ frames when discussing climate change, which both ensure the story is newsworthy and encourages its audience to question the validity of the scientific consensus (McGaurr, Lester & Painter 2013, p. 28; Schäfer, Ivanova & Schmidt 2013, p. 19).

Newspapers continue to play a major role in shaping public perception and opinion on important social issues (Bolsen 2011, p. 156; Kim 2015, p. 554; Stephens, Rand & Melnick 2009, p. 171). As well as influencing public opinion, they can also be a reflection on the current public and political discourse on an issue (Stephens, Rand & Melnick 2009, p.171). Studying how news media frames information can give insight into current opinion of its audience (Bolsen 2011, p. 156; Entman 1993, p. 57).

While a great number of studies have looked at various aspects of news framing of climate change, there are few on renewable energy. However, it is beneficial to consider the treatment of renewable energy in Australian newspapers. Where climate change opinions appear to be closely aligned with value systems and partisan alignment (Hart & Nisbet 2012, p. 715), people engage with renewable energy for different reasons (Olson-Hazboun, Krannich & Robertson 2016, p. 176). Aside from playing a major part in climate change mitigation, it may appeal to the public for reasons such as improving air quality, economic benefits – both job growth and reduced electricity prices, and technological (Nisbet & Kotcher 2009, p. 336; Olson-Hazboun, Krannich & Robertson 2016, p. 176). Conversely, it is not just by climate change ‘deniers’ opposed to renewables. For example, people may oppose it for aesthetic or cultural reasons (sense of place) (Baxter, Morzaria & Hirsch 2013, p. 936), fear of job reduction from closure of fossil fuel plants or the health and safety aspects of

9

technologies such as wind generators (Baxter, Morzaria & Hirsch 2013, p. 936, 937; Olson-Hazboun, Krannich & Robertson 2016, p. 176).

In framing studies of renewable energy in the media, some common frames are evident, including:

• Health and safety; for example, the perceived effects of wind turbine noise on health (Deignan & Hoffman-Goetz 2015, p. 537)

• Economic; for example, regional job growth through infrastructure development (Hindmarsh 2014, p. 204)

• Aesthetic/cultural; for example, the effects windfarms will have on a landscape (Bidwell 2013, p. 197) • Environmental; for example, benefits of renewable energy for climate change mitigation (Biggs 2016,

p. 203) • Technical; for example, uncertainty about new technology (Duncan & Sovacool 2011, p. 284)

3 Case study: Snowy Hydro Increasingly, the discourse surrounding electricity supply is focusing on renewables (Marlay 2017, p. 22). While Government and industry support remains strong for traditional fossil fuel sourced electricity, there is mounting economic, environmental and global pressure to move to more sustainable, low carbon production methods (Bec, Moyle & McLennan 2016, p. 716; Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017, p. 11; Hua, Oliphant & Hu 2016, p. 1045). The political, environmental and economic nature of energy discourse makes it a divisive topic, therefore highly newsworthy (Schäfer, Ivanova & Schmidt 2013, p. 19).

The purpose of this case study is to examine how Australian newspapers frame renewable energy following the Federal Government’s announcement to expand the Snowy Hydro scheme on 15 March 2017 (Turnbull 2017). This period was chosen for the case study as the Liberal/National Party (LNP) coalition government announced the major renewable energy project despite their traditional support for the fossil fuel industry (Bacon & Nash 2012, p. 244) and their ongoing criticism of South Australia’s renewable energy policies sparked by the July 2016 wholesale price peak (King et al. 2016; Holmes & Burgess 2017, p. 9).

3.1 Background The following is a brief background of the events leading up to the Snowy Hydro announcement on 15 March 2017.

7 July 2016: wholesale energy prices peak

South Australian wholesale energy prices peaked at $8900/mw hour at 7:30pm, more than 175 times the average wholesale prices in the eastern states (Wood, Blowers & Moran 2016, p. 1). A report released by the Gratton Institute attributed the peak to the states near complete reliance on gas-powered generators at the time, resulting from a day of almost no wind power generation when an interconnector between Victoria and South Australia was out of commission for upgrades (Wood, Blowers & Moran 2016, p. 1). Wood, Blowers and Moran (2016, p.6) also claimed the lack of alternative energy sources allowed the gas and diesel generators to charge more for their power. The event occurred at a critical moment in the political sphere where the federal LNP where up for re-election (Holmes & Burgess 2017, p. 8). Holmes and Burgess (2017, p. 8) argue with the LNP vying for re-election, the spike in energy prices gave them a platform to attack South Australia’s renewable energy policies.

10

28–29 September 2016: South Australian mid-latitude cyclone and state-wide blackout

A mid-latitude cyclone hit South Australia, destroying more than 20 transmissions towers and plunging the state into blackout (BoM 2016, pp. 39–42). High profile Federal politicians such as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Senator Nick Xenophon were quick to blame the state’s high renewable energy targets for the disaster (Holmes 2016; King et al. 2016). At the time of the storm, wind power accounted for more than 40% of the state’s electricity production (Clean Energy Council 2017, p. 9). The opponents to renewables used the disaster as an opportunity to politicise renewables and frame them as ‘unreliable’ (Holmes, 2016; Holmes & Burgess 2017, p. 10). (See Holmes & Burgess 2017, for an in-depth analysis of newspaper reporting of the South Australian Mid-Latitude Cyclone.)

9 February 2017: a chunk of coal in Federal Parliament

The ongoing debate about renewable energy policy in the wake of the South Australian incidents, were once again brought to a head when the Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison, brandished a lump of coal in Parliament House market’ (The Guardian 2017). Using this platform, the Minister used cultural and economic frames to support the coal industry: ‘It’s coal that has ensured for over 100 years that Australia has enjoyed an energy competitive advantage that has delivered prosperity to Australian businesses and it’s ensured Australian industry has been able to remain competitive in the global market’ (The Guardian 2017, sec 0:19).

9 March 2017: the loaming gas shortage

A report released by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) warned of a loaming gas shortage threatening Australian energy supplies from 2018 (Australian Energy Market Operator [AEMO] 2017, para. 4). The report warned the ‘tightening of the domestic gas market will have flow-on effects to the electricity sector unless there is an increase in gas supplies and development’ (AEMO 2017, para. 3).

14 March 2017: South Australia’s new energy plan

The South Australian Government announced a $550 million energy plan, which they claimed will ‘take charge of the state’s energy future and deliver reliable, affordable and clean power for South Australians’ (Weatherill 2017, para. 1). The plan includes $150 million to build ‘Australia’s largest battery’, $360 million to build a government owned gas-fired power station, giving more ministerial control over the energy market as well as encouraging investment in the state resources (Weatherill, 2017). The announcement was reported to ‘enrage’ the Federal Government, with the Australia Financial Review reporting ‘Federal Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg is furious that South Australia has gone solo and chosen to “rip up” a national agreement after a national electricity market was established 20 years ago’ (Evans and Potter, 2017, para. 2).

15 March 2017: a big day in energy politics – Snowy Hydro, a public feud and gas crisis talks

The day following the South Australian energy plan announcement was a tumultuous one in politics. It started with the Prime Minister announcing a $2 billion investment into expanding the Snowy Hydro scheme (Turnbull 2017). He claimed the expansion would increase Snowy Hydro’s output by 2000 MW, ‘enough to power 500,000 homes’ (Turnbull 2017, para. 2). The crux of the plan is to convert the current system into a pumped hydroelectric system, requiring infrastructure upgrades and new underground tunnels (Snowy Hydro 2017).

11

Pumped hydroelectricity is a form of energy storage (Blakers 2014). Many experts claim pumped hydroelectricity can be a successful part of an overall renewable energy plan if it serves as storage for other renewable energy sources (e.g. see Snowy Hydro expansion - ANU experts comment 2017).

Renewables were further politicised when a live-to-air altercation occurred between the South Australian Premier and the Federal Energy Minister (ABC News 2017b). While attending a press conference announcing AGL’s launch of their Virtual Power Plant (Frydenberg 2017), the Premier expressed his disappointment in the Federal Government for their lack of support and contradictory policies surrounding renewable energy (ABC News 2017b). The Minister countered with an attack on South Australia energy plan, the blackouts and the cost of electricity in the state (ABC News 2017b).

Finally, the Prime Minister held talks with the gas companies regarding the AEMO-predicted gas shortage (AEMO 2017). During his media conference he claimed ‘the producers have given us a guarantee to ensure that gas is available for the National Energy Market’ (ABC News 2017a, min. 1:30). He used the press conference to further politicise ‘energy security’ by claiming they need to ‘continue the pressure and state and territory governments to revisit the restrictions on gas development and exploration’ and goes on to call attention to the Victorian Government for banning gas developments in their state (ABC News 2017a, sec. 0:47).

3.2 Methodology Australian newspaper coverage of renewable energy was analysed between 15 and 17 March 2017. This timeframe was chosen to include the Federal Government’s announcement of the Snowy Hydro expansion on 15 March 2017 (Turnbull 2017). The articles were sourced through the Dow Jones Factiva database, using the following parameters:

• Source: Australia & New Zealand Or Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Or Australian

Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News Or The Conversation Or The Conversation Or Renew Economy

Not New Zealand

• Search terms: renewables or renewable energy or green energy or alternative energy or bio energy or

solar power or solar energy or solar panel* or solar farm* or solar array or hydro-electric* power or

hydro power or ethanol or geothermal energy or wave power or wind power or wind farm or wind

turbine* or tidal power or biomass or alternative fuel* or green power or green electricity or hydro-

electricity or clean energy or tidal energy or hydroelectric or snowy hydro*

NVivo was used to examine the articles for framing, themes and narrative trends. Each article was classified for news source, title, reporter, word count, publication date, section, page, type of article, and format. The news sources were further designated codes for region (e.g. Victoria) and source owner (e.g. Fairfax). The frames, themes and narrative trends across the articles were determined using an open coding methodology. The following is a description of the six major themes used to frame renewable energy across this data set.

Cultural frame

Cultural frames are used to appeal to a person’s value systems or sense of place (Read et al. 2013, p. 73; Stephens, Rand & Melnick 2009, p. 174). They may cover places of cultural significance, those with historical value or a strong heritage. By appealing to a person’s ‘sense of place’, such as an attachment to their local landscape, negative sentiment can be created towards impeding infrastructure (Stephens, Rand & Melnick

12

2009, p. 174). Conversely, positive sentiment can be created for the same projects if discourse is framed to appeal to a sense of community, where new projects have direct or indirect economic value creating new opportunities for community members (Stephens, Rand & Melnick 2009, p. 174). In this study, this frame is important when discussing the Snowy Hydro scheme, as it has significant historic and cultural meaning to Australia (e.g. NSW Migration Heritage Centre 2011).

Economic frame

The economic frame covers all matter of finance, including job growth or reduction. With electricity prices on the rise, fear of a gas shortage and discussion of investing in new infrastructure the economic frame is evident (AEMO 2017; Turnbull, 2017). The various government bodies need to justify their spending on new projects, and with new infrastructure, employment becomes an important component in the discourse. When creating new infrastructure projects such as the Snowy Hydro expansion, government expenditure is open for scrutiny. Discourse can be positive with investment creating jobs or reducing electricity bills; or negative, taking jobs away from other areas or too much money spent for too little benefits.

Energy security frame

Energy security is a phrase the LNP Government started using previous to this study to frame renewable energy (Clean Energy Council 2017, p. 7; Holmes & Burgess 2017, p. 10). The term itself already conjures up the idea we must be in an energy crisis if the government is seeking ways to secure it. The media release from the office of the Prime Minister, claimed the Turnbull Government was backing a ‘reliable’ and ‘affordable’ form of renewable energy (Turnbull 2017, para. 8). Implying all that went before (especially wind energy), has been unreliable and expensive. The energy security frame invokes fears of an energy crisis which the public needs ‘saving’ from.

Environmental frame

Mentions of climate change, extreme weather events and other generalise environmental issues fit within his frame. Given the links between climate change and the environment, and climate change mitigation and renewable energy (CSIRO & BoM 2015; BoM & CSIRO 2016; Steffen, Alexander & Rice 2017), it is important to understand how the media uses environmental framing in renewable energy discourse. Especially given Australia’s international obligations to climate change mitigation (UNFCCC 2016). Environmental framing may include extreme weather events such as the South Australian mid-latitude cyclone, environmental concerns surrounding infrastructure, and linking climate change to renewables or other narratives such as extreme weather.

Political frame

Energy policy has been in the spotlight since the South Australian blackouts in September 2017. With media discourse on the loaming gas shortage and energy prices (ABC News 2017a), politicians had the opportunity to further politicise energy to further their own agendas. For example, both the Prime Minister and Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy published media releases criticising the South Australian ALP Government’s energy plan (Frydenberg 2017; Turnbull 2017). While the South Australian Premier attacked the Federal Government on its treatment of South Australia (ABC News 2017b). The political frame is invoked when discussion focuses on politicians, policy or politicising renewable energy topics.

13

Technical frame

Technical frames are most effective when they appeal to segments of the community that Nisbet and Kotcher (2009, p. 336) refers to as ‘early adopters’. Innovative technology such as the Tesla Powerwall would appeal to early adopter: a home battery system that is charged by solar panels during the day and powers the house at night (Doyle & Barnes 2016). New technology can be framed as new and exciting, or new with unknown consequences, where old technology can be framed as outdated or as mature reliable technology. However, the technical frame can also be used to create uncertainty be highlighting complicated, confusing technical details (Duncan & Sovacool 2011, p. 284).

Additional coding

Using an opening coding methodology, recurring trends within the overarching frames were also coded for analysis. The articles were also coded for risk/negative and benefit/positive sentiments. Additionally, the major energy sources as well as the main actors where coded.

The articles were examined for correlations between framing, narrative, region, media owner and sentiment, and reported on under each of the overarching frames within the findings section below.

14

4 Findings and discussion: explaining the divisions in

reporting The difference in the framing of renewable energy in Australian newspapers was correlated with both corporate ownership and regional influences. These observations were prevalent in both the literature and the Snowy Hydro case study. The largest observed influence on framing renewable energy was found to be political, with the partisan alignments of the newspaper owners aligning closely with the political discourse.

4.1 Media releases led the discourse on the Snowy Hydro expansion Overwhelmingly, articles in the Snowy Hydro case study used ‘energy security’ in their framing of renewable energy, closely followed by economic and political frames (Figure 1). This result was surprising, as energy security was not identified as a frame in the literature, leading to the question: why is the ‘energy security’ frame so prevalent in this study?

Figure 1 represents the key themes used in framing renewable energy from 15–17 March 2017. Multiple frames where often used across the articles.

Holmes and Burgess (2017, p. 10) noted the LNP politicians use of the phrase ‘energy security’ surrounding South Australia’s mid-latitude cyclone and subsequent blackout. Although their study did not indicate the frequency of the term’s use, they argued the LNP governments used it to further criticise state-led renewable energy targets. This prompted an examination of government-released media documents at the time of the Snowy Hydro case study, which identified three key media releases during the case study period: the Prime Minister’s Securing Australia’s future with Snowy Mountains 2.0 (Turnbull 2017); the Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy’s Australia’s first power plant goes live in SA (Frydenberg 2017); and, the Premier of South Australia’s South Australia is taking charge of its energy future (Weatherill 2017).

The Prime Minister’s media release focused on the economic, political and energy security benefits of expanding the Snowy Hydro scheme (Turnbull 2017): the three most prominent themes arising from the case study. According to the release, the economic benefits include more affordable electricity and job creation through infrastructure development (Turnbull 2017). Politically, the release dismissed the South Australian ALP’s Government’s energy plan, as the Snowy Hydro will ‘produce 20 times’ the electricity as South Australia’s proposed battery (Turnbull 2017, para. 15). It also claimed the Government can provide energy security where others cannot by accusing past governments of putting ‘ideology and politics’ ahead of ‘reliable

020406080

100120140160180

Cultural frame Economic frame Energy security frame

Environmental frame

Political frame Technical frame

Num

ber o

f arti

cles

Framing of renewable energy

15

power supply’ (Turnbull 2017, para. 6). Further, it implied other governments were reckless in their approach to electricity, as ‘we will always put sensible, considered energy decisions ahead of reckless targets’ (Turnbull 2017, para. 13). It further strengthens the energy security frame using words such as ‘reliable’, ‘stabilise’, ‘priority’, ‘efficient’, ‘confident’ and ‘security’, language aimed at instilling a sense of security and confidence (Turnbull 2017). Finally, by implying renewables, other than hydroelectricity, are unreliable they ensure they are not contradicting their previous attacks on South Australia’s reliance on renewables or compromise their continued support for the fossil fuel industry (Bacon & Nash 2012, p. 244; Holmes & Burgess 2017, pp. 8–10). Bacon and Nash (2012, p. 244) argue conservative parties are aligned with mining industries, whereas the union alignment of the ALP sees them crossing traditional left-right boundaries owing to differing alignment across the unions. Furthermore, Australian governments have a heavy reliance on revenues from coal export across Australia (Bacon & Nash 2012, p. 244).

Following the Prime Minister’s media release was the release from the Minister for the Environment and Energy announcing AGL’s virtual power plant: a solar battery storage system hooked up to a network of rooftop solar across homes and businesses enabling users to draw energy from the battery rather than the grid (Frydenberg 2017). The Minister used it as a platform to reaffirm the Government’s economic, political and energy security narrative by discussing electricity affordability, while highlighting South Australia’s energy issues (Frydenberg 2017). For example, ‘recent energy outages in South Australia have shown that we must do everything we can to ensure the transition to a lower emissions future does not compromise the reliability, affordability or safety of our energy system’ (Frydenberg 2017, para. 7). The Minister’s media release echoed the LNP’s ‘unreliable renewables’ narrative observed by Holmes and Burgess (2017, p. 30).

Preceding the Federal Government’s media releases was one from the Premier of South Australia. The Premier’s release outlined a $550 million energy plan aiming to make the state more independent in its energy production: ‘a comprehensive plan to take charge of the State’s energy future and deliver reliable, affordable and clean power for South Australians’ (Weatherill 2017, para. 1). The release discussed battery storage for renewable energy and a new state-owned gas-powered generator. This release, coupled with the Snowy Hydro announcement, likely drove the type of energy resources discussed during this period, with hydroelectricity, batteries and gas featuring strongly (Table 1).

Table 1 shows the percentage of articles mentioning each enery source. Note, all articles mention renewables by study design (see section 3.2).

Energy source Renewables 100% Batteries 39% Hydroelectricity (all mentions) 48% Snowy Hydro 43% Solar (all mentions) 22% Large scale solar 6% Small scale/roof top solar 10% Wind 16% Other renewables 2% Fossil fuels 50% Coal 24% Gas 39% Other fossil fuels 6%

16

The Snowy Hydro expansion accounted for the bulk of the hydroelectricity narrative, which was to be expected given this case study covers the period of the announcement. Batteries and gas also featured heavily, mimicking the political conflict between federal and state politics regarding South Australia’s energy plan (Turnbull 2017; Weatherill 2017). The media appeared to use to incident to push their own political agendas. For example, the right-leaning The Australian quoted the Prime Minister: ‘Australians want action, not stunts like the one pulled by Jay Weatherill’, and ‘The failure in South Australia was for one very simple reason: what Jay Weatherill did was introduce an enormous amount of wind power into his state’ (Coch 2017a, paras 3, 10). The use of these quotes framed the South Australian Government as irresponsible and the Federal Government as the energy ‘heroes’: ‘Mr Turnbull said his $2 billion proposal to expand Snowy Hydro’s capacity by 50% showed the Federal Government was getting on with delivering on energy’ (Coch 2017b, para. 11). Whereas, the left-leaning media, was more likely to point to hypocrisy of the Federal Government who had been critical of South Australia’s renewable energy policies only to launch their own. For example, Fairfax’s The Australian Financial Review printed; ‘Mr Weatherill attacked Mr Frydenberg as “an absolute disgrace” who was part of “the most anti-SA Government in living memory” which, he said, had been “trash-talking SA's leadership in renewable technology and they have the gall to stand here next to a renewable energy project and pretend it is happy families”’ (Coorey 2017, para. 14).

The media mirroring political discourse and press releases in this case study supports Schäfer, Ivanova and Schmidt's (2013, p.19) study showing political events increased media attention. They also suggested heated political debates are drivers for media discourse in a news system such as Australia’s where conflict is considered newsworthy (Schäfer, Ivanova & Schmidt 2013, p. 19). This was evident from the attention the political conflict generated by the media releases between the South Australian ALP Government and the Federal LNP Government received in the media.

4.2 Energy security

Figure 2 shows the difference within the energy security frame between the two major media owners, Fairfax and News Corp Australia. The values are in percentage of articles for ease of comparison.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Comparision of energy security themes between Fairfax and News Corp Australia

Fairfax News Corp Australia

17

Figure 3 shows sentiment towards renewables in Fairfax and News Corp Australia newspapers.

Regional issues were also a clear influence on discourse relating to energy security topics (Figure 4). Most notably was the proportion of articles referring to the South Australian energy security. As expected, South Australian media coverage was proportionately more than the other regions. Victorian and national media also provide high coverage on the issue. Victoria also has an interest in South Australian energy security owing to the electricity connection between the states. Whereas much of the national news media is provided by News Corp Australia’s The Australian as the only national general daily newspaper (Manne 2011, p. 5). The Australian tends towards political coverage (Manne 2011, p. 4) and the newsworthy conflict between the South Australian Government and Federal Government featured South Australian energy security, including its blackouts.

Figure 4 shows the breakdown of nodes in energy security in regions.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Positive towards renewables Negative towards renewables Negative towards renewables except hydro

Sentiment towardsrenewables


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

100%

Energy security by region

Victoria NSW QLD National SA

18

4.3 Political Political framing of renewable energy was abundant in the case study. While there were only small points of difference between the regions and news media owners in relation to theme and general narrative, there was a marked difference in political sentiments relating to renewable energy (Figure 5 and Figure 6). The case study showed Fairfax tended towards left-leaning sentiment in reporting on renewable energy and News Corp Australia with clear preference to the right (Figure 5).

Figure 5 shows the difference in sentiment towards the major political parties by media owners.

Figure 6 shows the regional differences in sentiment towards the major political parties.

Aside from sentiment towards the LNP or ALP, some of the narrative surrounding renewable energy was politicised. The two most frequent of these narratives were the use of the Snowy Hydro announcement to overshadow and dampen the South Australian energy plan (Turnbull 2017), and the altercation between the South Australian Premier and Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy over renewable energy on live television (ABC News 2017b). Each narrative occurred in 25% of the politically framed articles. The altercation between the Premier and the Minister overshadowed AGL’s announcement of their Virtual Power Plant, with 18% of all articles mentioning the incident but only 13% mentioning AGL. However, there was very little difference between the proportion of coverage Fairfax and News Corp Australia gave both narratives.

However, there was a marked difference in sentiment between the articles politicising Snowy Hydro and those covering the altercation between the Premier and the Minister (Figure 7). Those politicising the Snowy Hydro tended toward the political right. They also presented a great proportion of positive sentiment towards renewables, mainly due to the high positive sentiment towards hydroelectricity. Both politicised narratives were present in articles negative towards renewables other than hydroelectricity.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

100%

ABC Fairfax News Corp Australia

Media owner sentiment towards the major political parties

Negative ALP Positive LNP

Negative LNP Positive ALP

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

100%

Regional sentiment towards the major parties

Negative ALP Positive LNP

Negative LNP Positive ALP

19

Figure 7 illustrates how sentiment differs between articles covering ‘politicising Snow Hydro scheme’ and the ‘Weatherill and Frydenberg narrative’.

In articles covering the altercation between state and federal politicians, the political sentiment was only slightly more right-leaning and generally they were negative towards both the ALP and LNP. These articles had a greater focus on negative sentiment towards renewables in general. They also focused more on blaming renewables for the blackout and unreliable power supply. Holmes and Burgess (2017, p. 32) also reported on the trend to politicise renewable energy. Further, their research found cases where the politicisation became the story itself (Holmes & Burgess 2017, p. 32). Although in this case study, the media reported on the events politicising renewables rather than the politicisation as the story.

The dominance of the political frame was also seen with politicians being represent five times more often than experts (Table 2). Even when experts were represented, they tended to be economic experts rather than scientific or technical. Holmes and Burgess (2017, p. 32) also found politicians the dominant actors in newspaper articles following the South Australian blackout, instead of experts such as climate scientists. This underrepresentation of experts has not been well studied in relation to renewable energy, however, it is well documented in media studies on climate change (Djerf-Pierre, Cokley & Kuchel 2016, p. 645; Wei et al. 2015, p. 329). Furthermore, Djerf-Pierre, Cokley and Kuchel (2016, p. 645) observed the high representation of politicians in The Australian newspaper as part of their study on framing renewable energy, they argue it was indicative of the politicisation of the energy debate in Australia.

0% 5%

10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Themes within the policising narrative

Politicising snowy hydro scheme Weatherill and Frydenberg narrative

20

Table 2: Key actors represented in the media discourse in the case study.

Key actors in discourse % of articles Australian Renewable Energy Agency 10% CSIRO 2% Energy/resources companies 44% AGL 13% Tesla/Elon Musk 12% Snowy Hydro 13% Environmental groups 2% Experts 14% Locals and community interest groups 8% Politicians 73% ALP 48% Bill Shorten 7% Jay Weatherill 40% LNP 58% Malcolm Turnbull 45% Josh Frydenberg 22% Other 5% Greens 4% Nick Xenophon 1%

21

4.4 Economic Electricity prices are the number one concern for Australian households according the Choice consumer survey (Choice 2016, p.4). With a reported 81% of Australians worried about the cost of power (Choice 2016, p. 4), it is not surprising that the economic frame rated highly in discourse about energy. However, other than a small focus on employment, the economic frame was mainly invoked through benign mentions of the cost of the projects. However, a few highlight the Federal Government’s attack on South Australia’s $550 million budget for their energy plan. For example, The Age reported ‘Decrying as irresponsible South Australia's “go-it-alone” energy security plan released on Tuesday, Mr Frydenberg called it a $550 million admission of failure’ (Kenny 2017, para. 9).

Within this frame, job reduction and job growth only rated small mentions (Figure 8 and Figure 9). Although employment was not a key focus in this period, it is not surprising that News Corp Australia would focus more on job reduction as it fits with the politically conservative narrative that climate change mitigation solutions such renewables will harm the economy. While the only difference in the employment narrative across the corporate owners was job reduction, within the regions job growth was more pronounced (Figure 9). Regionally, NSW and then Victoria stand to benefit the most with employment growth from the Snowy Hydro expansion, which is reflected by their higher proportion of articles attributed to job growth. Olson-Hazboun, Krannich and Robertson (2016, p. 176) also found employment growth important at the regional level, especially in towns that are struggling financially.

4.5 Environmental Rapid, high levels of renewable energy uptake is required to address climate change (Biggs 2016, p. 203; Pachauri et al. 2015, p. 82; Rockström et al. 2017, p. 1269). As such, renewable energy is almost synonymous with climate change mitigation. However, while renewable energy featured strongly in the media during this period, climate change was largely ignored. In this case study, less than a third used environmental narratives to frame renewables, and only 24 articles mentioned climate change at all (Figure 10). Furthermore, even though the South Australian blackout was mentioned in around a third of articles, only 12 mentioned

Figure 8 shows the percentage of articles using economic framing for renewable energy across the regions. It also includes the themes of job reduction and job creation that were observed within the economic frame.

Figure 9 shows the percentage of articles using economic framing for renewable energy in Fairfax and News Corp Australia publications. It also includes the themes of job reduction and job creation that were observed within the economic frame.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

100%

Job reduction Job creation Economic

% a

rticle

s

Economic frames across the regions

Victoria NSW Queensland National SA

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Job reduction Job creation Economic

% a

rticle

s

Economic framing by the newspaper owners


22

extreme weather and none the South Australian mid-latitude cyclone. Even with the link between climate change and extreme weather events such as the South Australian mid-latitude cyclone (BoM 2016), only four articles included both extreme weather and climate change. The relationship between extreme weather and climate change in this case study reflects that of Holmes and Burgess (2017). Despite their focus being newspaper reporting of the South Australian mid-latitude cyclone, 9% of articles mentioned climate change and only 4% of made the link between climate change and the intensification of extreme weather (Holmes & Burgess 2017, p. 25). Schäfer, Ivanova and Schmidt's (2013, p.18) study into drivers of media attention for climate also noted extreme weather did not increase attention for climate change in the Australian media. However, there have been previous studies to the contrary, such as Bohensky and Leitch's (2014, p. 479) study of the media surrounding the 2011 Brisbane flood where they argue a dominant narrative linked the flood with climate change.

Figure 10 shows the number of articles the themes within the environmental frame were present.

To further explore the links, if any, the media makes between renewable energy and climate change, I took a more in depth look at the 24 articles. The articles were sorted for sentiment as well as explicit (or definite) link, soft (or implied) link, or no link (Table 3). When it comes to the sentiment towards climate change across the dataset, it was almost even (13 real:11 sceptical), which was a stark contrast to the 97% scientific consensus that human activities are extremely likely to be the cause of global warming trends (Cook et al. 2016, p. 5). It was more common for an explicit link to be made between climate change and renewables when climate change was spoken of as a fact. Whereas, the soft link was preferred when the article was sceptical.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Environmental frame

Climate change Extreme weather Other environmental

mentions

# ar

ticles

Themes within the environmental frame

23

Table 3: Links between climate change and renewable energy in the news media. Explicit link is a clearly defined link, soft is where the two are linked but somewhat removed, and there were also occasions where there was no link between the mention of climate change and renewables. The table also differentiates between negative and positive mentions. Positive is where climate change is considered real and renewables as a mitigating technology. Negative is where a sceptical stance is taken on climate change and renewables. Examples from the data are given for each.

Positive Negative Explicit link 7

‘Climate change has sharply focused everyone's attention to the need to find energy sources that do not pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.’ ('Is this a leap forward the power grid needs?' 2017, para. 9)

3 ‘Australia’s energy predicament has been brought about by the long campaign against fossil fuel in the cause of the environment in particular and the need to abate global warming in general. Successive governments — Labor and Coalition — at the state and federal levels have heavily subsidised renewable energy.’ (Henderson 2017, para.12)

Soft link 4 ‘It also risks replicating the problems created by the current federal Renewable Energy Target that works outside, rather than with, the NEM. The saving grace of the new proposal is that it is intended to merge with a future national climate change policy.’ (Wood 2017, para. 8)

7 ‘Even BHP Billiton’s ‘true (global warming) believer’ CEO, Andrew Mackenzie won’t trust its huge Olympic Dam to that (utterly unreliable, and expensive) electricity future.’ (McCrann 2017, para. 13)

Unrelated mention 2 ‘Critics also warn about the impact of drought on the pumped hydro scheme - a serious consideration as climate change makes Australia's summers longer and drier - as well as the environmental damage about constructing such a major project in a national park.’ (Ludlow 2017, para. 32)

1 ‘We live in a world in which climate change true believers are fully vaccinated against all logic and reason.’ (‘We’re paying for dumb decisions’ 2017, para. 17)

However, seemingly contrary, the sentiment towards renewables in articles mentioning climate change tended towards negative (Figure 11). The national media stood out, as even when climate change was mentioned, renewables were not necessarily seen as favourable (Figure 12). This result is particularly interesting given the national news media’s positive coverage of the Snowy Hydro scheme. This may imply, that although they support the Snowy Hydro, they do not support other forms of renewables. The small number of articles associating renewables with climate change indicate climate change discourse is not the driver for renewable framing.

24

Figure 11 shows the sentiment towards renewables in articles mentioning climate change. Some articles exhibited both positive and negative sentiment depending on the renewables discussed. The small sample size meant further breaking down the data would not give meaningful results.

Figure 12 shows the sentiment towards renewables in articles mentioning climate change in Fairfax and News Corp Australia publications. Some articles exhibited both positive and negative sentiment depending on the renewables discussed. The small sample size meant further breaking down the data would not give meaningful results.

4.6 Technical and cultural Neither the technical nor cultural frames were prevalent in this study, however they are worth touching on. Technical frames are often use to either appeal to the audience by highlighting new and exciting innovations, or to create uncertainty by highlight complicated, confusing technical details (Duncan & Sovacool 2011, p. 284). Therefore, it would have been reasonable to expect technical framing of renewable energy in this case study, especially in relation to battery technology or AGL’s Virtual Power Plant. However, most of the articles exhibiting technical frames were associated with the Snowy Hydro scheme and were descriptive. For example, ‘it [the Snowy Hydro expansion] will require three new tunnels being built along a 9 km stretch to link the two reservoirs – one to send water through the turbines, one to pump water back up to the higher dam and another for “surge” overflow’ (Ludlow 2017, para. 12). Although the technical frame was predominately benign, the cultural frame was more engaging.

In this case study, the cultural frame was only observed in 20 articles and were all linked to the Snowy Hydro scheme (Table 4). A significant proportion of the articles used narrative around heritage, immigrants and national pride. For example, by painting a nostalgic picture of our pioneering fathers from times past to instil a sense of national pride: ‘it was the wonder of its age – one of the largest and most complex such schemes in world history’ (Wright 2017, para. 12). However, the ‘nation building Prime Minister’ narrative was most prevalent, where articles focused on the Prime Minister claiming himself to be a ‘nation building Prime Minister’: ‘“I am a nation building prime minister, believe me, and this is a nation building project. This is the next step in a great story of engineering and the Snowy Mountains and courageous men and women who were confident and committed to Australia’s future”’ (Coch 2017b, para. 8). This attempts to invoke the ‘hero’ image described by Lakoff (2014, p. 1)

Table 4 shows the narrative trends within the cultural frame.

Narrative % total % Fairfax % News Corp Australia ‘Nation building Prime Minister’ 60% 25% 35% Importance for irrigators 5% 0 0 Heritage, immigrants and national pride 35% 15% 20%

Sentiment towards renewables in articles

mentioning climate change

Positive towards renewables

Negative towards renewables

0%

50%

100%

News Corp Australia Fairfax

Comparison of the sentiment towards renewables between

Fairfax and News Corp Australia

Negative towards renewables

Positive towards renewables

25

Table 5 shows the sentiment towards the political parties within the cultural frame.

Sentiment towards political parties % total % of total Fairfax

% of total News Corp Australia

Negative towards Liberal/National Party 30% 33% 50% Positive towards Labor Party 0 0 0 Left-leaning articles 30% 33% 50% Positive towards Liberal/National Party 40% 13% 75% Negative towards Labor Party 30% 17% 50% Right-leaning articles 70% 14% 64%

Within the cultural frame, the sentiment was skewed towards the LNP’s favour (Table 5). News Corp Australia was responsible for most right-leaning articles, as well as the ‘nation building Prime Minister’ narrative, once again showing alignment with the LNP’s messages. Interestingly, Fairfax had less left-leaning articles than News Corp Australia, mostly owing to News Corp Australia also being critical towards LNP. However, Fairfax had very few right-leaning articles, with only one article exhibiting negative sentiment towards ALP.

5 Conclusion: why are Australian newspapers divided

on how they frame renewables? The results of the Snowy Hydro case study coupled with the literature, show Australian newspapers are divided in how they frame renewables. In this case study, the partisan alignment of corporate owners appeared to have the biggest influence on framing. In agreement with Simons (2007) and Waitt, Farbotko and Criddle (2012, p. 40), Fairfax newspapers were left-leaning and generally more supportive of the ALP than the LNP: for example, the Sydney Morning Herald printed ‘Whilst national reform of the energy market architecture is urgently required, these South Australian reforms will address some key issues required for the more cost-effective integration of increasing renewable energy generation’ (Hatch 2017, para. 6).

The News Corp Australia newspapers were also observed to maintain their traditional partisan alignment with the LNP (Simons 2007; Manne 2011, p. 2). This was especially evident in their support for the Snowy Hydro expansion. News Corp Australia’s position on climate change is well-known, where they frame uncertainty and create controversy to obscure the scientific consensus (Taylor 2014, p. 14). Holmes & Burgess (2017, p. 14) also observed News Corp Australia creating controversy and framing renewable energy negatively through blaming renewable energy for South Australia’s blackout. However, seemingly breaking from their conservative views, they followed the Federal Government’s narrative by supporting the Snowy Hydro expansion: for example, in The Courier Mail, ‘Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will supercharge and expand the country’s iconic Snowy Mountains Scheme under a surprise multibillion-dollar plan to drive down power bills (Viellaris 2017, para.1). Although both the Federal Government and New Corp Australia pushed the benefits of the new renewable energy policy, they managed to maintain their traditional support for the fossil fuels industry and continue their attacks on other renewable energy sources (Bacon & Nash 2012, p. 244): for example the Herald Sun prints ‘In a slap to South Australia’s government, Mr. Turnbull said that the new project could, in one hour, produce 20 times the 100Mw/h expected from the battery proposed by the Weatherill government’ (Harris & Campbell 2017, para. 17).

26

Additionally, framing in newspapers from both Fairfax and News Corp Australia was driven by events in the political sphere. This was evident through their narratives matching those laid out in the politicians’ media releases (see section 4.1 for a discussion). These observations agree with Schäfer, Ivanova and Schmidt (2013, p. 16) who found ‘Political events increase media attention for climate change’ in the research on what drives media attention for climate change. Furthermore, they claim Australia’s media system is one in which conflict is considered highly newsworthy, as such the heightened political debates around climate change would amplify media attention (Schäfer, Ivanova & Schmidt 2013, p. 19). However, while the narrative was driven by political influences, the sentiment towards the narrative was mainly determined by the political affiliation of the newspaper owner. This shows that while political discourse is the main driver of newspaper narrative, the sentiment of the framing is mainly influenced by the partisan alignment of the newspapers (Nisbet 2009, p. 22; Schäfer, Ivanova & Schmidt 2013, p. 19).

Aside from political influences, it is worth noting the relatively minor regional influences on framing. For example, topics of regional importance, such as job growth in NSW, were more likely to be reported in those regions. Conversely, those of lower importance were less likely, for example South Australian energy security did not feature in Queensland publications. However, the spread of regional data in this study was too thin, therefore a larger dataset would be required to thoroughly interrogate regional influences.

The results of this study mimicked that of studies on climate change science reporting, albeit the lines were not as clear cut. While the editorial bias aligned with the traditional partisan alignment, it stood apart from public opinion (Simons 2007; Marlay 2017). A trend that is currently reflected within climate change discourse. Public opinion is evolving with 77% of Australian believing climate change is happening and 86% placing solar energy in their top three energy choices (Marlay 2017, pp. 7, 8) whereas, newspapers are still focusing on reporting false balance, or creating conflict through uncertainty (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2004; McGaurr, Lester & Criddle 2013). However, Olson-Hazboun, Krannich and Robertson (2016, p. 176) argue people engage with renewables for reasons other than climate change and partisan beliefs. They contend in their study on wind farms in the Rocky Mountain region of the USA, there was little to no correlation between beliefs about climate change and attitudes towards renewable energy (Olson-Hazboun, Krannich & Robertson 2016, p. 176). Instead, their attitudes were more likely influenced by local economic contexts or aesthetic reasons (Olson-Hazboun, Krannich & Robertson 2016, p. 176). Potentially, it is regional factors such as these that accounts for some of this disparity in partisan alignment of renewable energy – such as News Corp Australia’s support for hydroelectricity.

While the link between climate change and renewable energy was shown to be small in newspaper reporting, there is a school of thought that the link is not required and may even be detrimental, for the uptake of climate change mitigation technologies such as renewable energy (e.g. Olson-Hazboun, Krannich & Robertson 2016, p. 176). Climate change triggers internal frames and beliefs which my lead to conflict in some for adopting a climate friendly technology. There are also studies revealing the boomerang effect of over preaching to the converted and turning them away from their beliefs (see Hart & Nisbet 2012). Whereas, many climate change mitigation technologies have far reaching benefits, such as economic growth. Focusing on those and not mentioning climate change may be a key to wide spread renewable adoption, especially amongst audience segments Hine et al. (2013, p. 1) described as ‘dismissive’ and ‘uncommitted’.

More research needs to be conducted into renewable energy communications to determine the best ways to encourage uptake. While this thesis found the biggest influence on newspaper framing of renewable energy is the political alignment of the corporate owners, the sentiment is not as strongly aligned as it is with climate change. Further, public opinion on climate change and renewables has evolved and is not proportionally

27

aligned with the newspapers. This may indicate the newspapers are out of touch with their audiences, especially on climate change and renewable energy issues, and are instead placing too much focus on their corporate line and political affiliations. Perhaps this means they are losing their impact, or even their relevance in the climate change mitigation space.

28

6 References ABC News 2017a, Malcolm Turnbull announces agreement to increase gas supply for Australia, online video, viewed 27 October 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-15/malcolm-turnbull-announces-agreement-to-increase/8357536

ABC News 2017b, SA Premier Jay Weatherill serves Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, online video, viewed 25 November 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/sa-premier-jay-weatherill-serves-federal-energy/8360422

Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) 2017, Gas development required to meet future energy demand, media release, veiwed 25 October 2017, https://www.aemo.com.au/Media-Centre/Media-Statement---Gas-development-required-to-meet-future-energy-demand

Bacon, W & Nash, C 2012, ‘Playing the media game: the relative (in)visibility of coal industry interests in media reporting of coal as a climate change issue in Australia’, Journalism Studies, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 243–258, doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2011.646401

Baxter, J, Morzaria, R & Hirsch, R 2013, ‘A case-control study of support/opposition to wind turbines: perceptions of health risk, economic benefits, and community conflict’, Energy Policy, vol. 61, pp. 931–943, doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.06.050

Bec, A, Moyle, BD & McLennan, CJ 2016, ‘Drilling into community perceptions of coal seam gas in Roma, Australia’, The Extractive Industries and Society, vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 716–726, doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2015.12.007

Bidwell, D 2013, ‘The role of values in public beliefs and attitudes towards commercial wind energy’, Energy Policy, vol. 58, pp. 189–199, doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.010

Biggs, C 2016, ‘A resource-based view of opportunities to transform Australia’s electricity sector’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 123, pp. 203–217, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.006

Blakers, A 2014, ‘How pushing water uphill can solve our renewable energy issues’, The Conversation, viewed 20 September 2017, https://theconversation.com/how-pushing-water-uphill-can-solve-our-renewable-energy-issues-28196

Bohensky, EL & Leitch, AM 2014, ‘Framing the flood: a media analysis of themes of resilience in the 2011 Brisbane flood’, Regional Environmental Change, vol.14, no. 2, pp. 475–488, doi: 10.1007/s10113-013-0438-2

Bolsen, T 2011, ‘The construction of news: energy crises, advocacy messages, and frames toward conservation’, International Journal of Press/Politics, vol.16, no. 2, pp. 143–162, doi: 10.1177/1940161210392782

Boykoff, MT 2008, ‘The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids’, Political Geography, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 549–569, doi: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2008.05.002

Boykoff, MT & Boykoff, JM 2004, ‘Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press’, Global Environmental Change, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 125–136, doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.10.001

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) 2016, Severe thunderstorm and tornado outbreak South Australia 28

29

September 2016, Melbourne.

Byrnes, L, Brown, C, Foster, J & Wagner, LD 2013, ‘Australian renewable energy policy: barriers and challenges’, Renewable Energy, vol. 60, pp. 711–721, doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.06.024

Carvalho, A 2007, ‘Ideological cultures and media discourses on scientific knowledge: re-reading news on climate change’, Public Understanding of Science, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 223–243, doi: 10.1177/0963662506066775

Carvalho, A 2010, ‘Media(ted) discourses and climate change: a focus on political subjectivity and (dis)engagement’, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 172–179, doi: 10.1002/wcc.13

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions 2016, Paris climate agreement Q&A, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Arlington.

Choice 2016, Consumer pulse: Australia’s attitudes to the cost of living 2015-2016, Choice, Marrickville.

Clean Energy Council 2017, Clean energy Australia: report 2016, Climate Energy Council, Melbourne.

Coch, L 2017a, ‘“Action not Weatherill stunts”’, The Australian, 16 March, (online Factiva).

Coch, L 2017b, ‘“I”m a nation-building PM”’, The Australian, 16 March, (online Factiva).

Cook, J 2017, ‘Inoculation theory: using misinformation to fight misinformation’, The Conversation, viewed 18 September 2017, https://theconversation.com/inoculation-theory-using-misinformation-to-fight-misinformation-77545

Cook, J, Lewandowsky, S, Ecker, UKH, Jacobs, P, Cowtan, K & Green, S 2017, ‘Neutralizing misinformation through inoculation: Exposing misleading argumentation techniques reduces their influence’, PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 5, p. e0175799, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175799

Cook, J, Oreskes, N, Doran, PT, Anderegg, WRL, Verheggen, B, Maibach, EW, Carlton, JS, Lewandowsky, S, Skuce, AG, Green, SA, Nuccitelli, D, Jacobs, P, Richardson, M, Winkler, B, Painting, R & Rice, K 2016, ‘Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming’, Environmental Research Letters, vol. 11, no. 4, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002

Coorey, P 2017, ‘Canberra could go solo on Snowy: PM’, The Australian Financial Review, 17 March, p. 6, (online Factiva).

CSIRO & Bureau of Meteorology 2015, Climate change in Australia: technical report.

Deignan, B & Hoffman-Goetz, L 2015, ‘Emotional tone of Ontario newspaper articles on the health effects of industrial wind turbines before and after policy change’, Journal of Health Communication, vol. 20, pp. 531–538, doi: 10.1080/10810730.2014.999894

Department of Industry Innovation and Science 2016a Australia’s major export commodities: coal.

Department of Industry Innovation and Science 2016b Energy in Australia 2015. Canberra.

Department of the Environment and Energy 2017 Australian energy statistics, table O. Canberra.

Djerf-Pierre, M, Cokley, J & Kuchel, LJ 2016, ‘Framing renewable energy: a comparative study of newspapers in Australia and Sweden’, Environmental Communication, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 634–655, doi:

30

10.1080/17524032.2015.1056542

Doyle, C & Barnes, C 2016, ‘Powerwall payback’, Choice, viewed 26 October 2017, https://www.choice.com.au/home-improvement/energy-saving/solar/articles/tesla-powerwall-payback-time

Duncan, D & Sovacool, BK 2011, ‘The barriers to the successful development of commercial grid connected renewable electricity projects in Australia, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America’, Renewable Energy Law and Policy, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 283–301.

Effendi, P & Courvisanos, J 2012, ‘Political aspects of innovation: examining renewable energy in Australia’, Renewable Energy, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 245–252, doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2011.07.039

Entman, RM 1993, ‘Framing: toward clarification of a fractured paradigm’, Journal of Communication, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 51–58, doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x

Evans, S & Potter, B 2017, ‘South Australia announces $550m energy plan’, The Australian Financial Review, 14 March (online Factiva).

Feldman, L, Myers, TA, Hmielowski, JD & Leiserowitz, A 2014, ‘The mutual reinforcement of media selectivity and effects: testing the reinforcing spirals framework in the context of global warming’, Journal of Communication, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 590–611, doi: 10.1111/jcom.12108

Finkel, A, Moses, K, Munro, C, Effeney, T & O’Kane, M 2017, Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market - Blueprint for the Future.

Finkelstein, R 2012, Report of the independent inquiry into the media and media regulation, report, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Canberra.

Flannery, T 2015, Atmosphere of hope: searching for solutions to the climate crisis, Text Publishing, Melbourne.

Frydenberg, J (Minister for the Environment and Energy) 2017, Australian’s first virtual power plant goes live in South Australia, media release, Australian Government.

Funk, C & Kennedy, B 2016 The politics of climate.

Hall, N, Ashworth, P & Devine-Wright, P 2013, ‘Societal acceptance of wind farms: analysis of four common themes across Australian case studies’, Energy Policy, vol. 58, pp. 200–208, doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2013.03.009.

Hansen, A 2011, ‘Communication, media and environment: towards reconnecting research on the production, content and social implications of environmental communication’, International Communication Gazette, vol. 73, no. 1–2, pp. 7–25, doi: 10.1177/1748048510386739

Harris, R & Campbell, J 2017, ‘Turbo charged’, Herald Sun, 16 March (online Factiva).

Hart, PS & Nisbet, EC 2012, ‘Boomerang effects in science communication: how motivated reasoning and identity cues amplify opinion polarization about climate mitigation policies’, Communication Research, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 701–723, doi: 10.1177/0093650211416646

Hatch, P 2017, ‘Businesses like state fix - now want national policy’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 March, p. 22, (online Factiva).

Henderson, G 2017, ‘Energy crisis we didn’t need to have’, The Australian, 17 March, (online Factiva).

31

Hindmarsh, R 2014, ‘Hot air ablowin! “Media- speak”, social conflict, and the Australian “decoupled” wind farm controversy’, Social Studies of Science, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 194–217, doi: 10.1177/0306312713504239

Hine, D, Phillips, W, Reser, J, Cooksey, R, Marks, A, Nunn, P, Watt, S & Ellul, M 2013, Enhancing climate change communication : strategies for profiling and targeting Australian interpretive communities, National Climate Change Adaption Research Facility, Gold Coast.

Hobman, EV & Frederiks ER 2014, ‘Barriers to green electricity subscription in Australia: “love the environment, love renewable energy … but why should I pay more?”’, Energy Research & Social Science, vol. 3, pp. 78–88, doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2014.07.009

Holmes, D 2016, ‘“We must keep the lights on ”: how a cyclone was used to attack renewables’, The Conversation, viewed 20 October 2017, https://theconversation.com/we-must-keep-the-lights-on-how-a-cyclone-was-used-to-attack-renewables-66371

Holmes, DC & Burgess, T 2017, Newspaper Reporting of the September 2016 mid-latitude cyclone in South Australia. Melbourne.

Hornsey, MJ, Harris, EA, Bain, PG & Fielding, KS 2016, ‘Meta-analyses of the determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change’, Nature Climate Change, Vol. 6, pp. 622–627, doi: 10.1038/NCLIMATE2943

Hua, Y, Oliphant, M & Hu, EJ 2016 ,‘Development of renewable energy in Australia and China: a comparison of policies and status’, Renewable Energy, vol. 85, pp. 1044–1051, doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.07.060

‘Is this a leap forward the power grid needs?’ 2017, Bendigo Advertiser, 15 March, (online Factiva)

Kenny, M 2017, ‘Premier assails energy minister’, The Age, 17 March, p. 7, (online Factiva)

Kim, S-H 2015, ‘Who is responsible for a social problem? News framing and attribution of responsibility’, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 93, no. 3, pp. 554–558, doi: 10.1177/1077699015591956

King, A, McConnell, D, Saddler, H, Ison, N & Dargaville, R 2016, ‘What caused South Australia’s state-wide blackout?’, The Conversation, viewed 20 April 2017, https://theconversation.com/what-caused-south-australias-state-wide-blackout-66268

Lakoff, G 2010 ‘Why it matters how we frame the environment’, Environmental Communication, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 70–81, doi: 10.1080/17524030903529749

Lakoff, G 2014, The ALL NEW Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values. Tenth anni. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Leviston, Z., Walker, I. A., Leviston I.A., Z. & W., Flagship, C. A. N. R., Leviston, Z. and Walker, I. A. 2011 Baseline survey of Australian atitudes to climate change: preliminary report. CSIRO.

Lewandowsky, S, Ecker, UKH, Seifert, CM, Schwarz, N & Cook, J 2012, ‘Misinformation and its correction: continued influence and successful debiasing.’, Psychological science in the public interest: a journal of the American Psychological Society, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 106–31, doi: 10.1177/1529100612451018

Ludlow, M 2017, ‘Snowy to the rescue’, The Australian Financial Review, 17 March, p. 40, (online Facativa).

Manne, R 2011, ‘Bad news: Murdoch’s Australian and the shaping of the nation’, Quarterly Essay, vol. 43, pp. 1–119.

32

Marlay, B 2017, Climate of the Nation 2016: Australian attitudes on climate change. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.

Mauritsen, T & Pincus, R 2017, ‘Committed warming inferred from observations’, Nature Climate Change, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 652–655. doi: 10.1038/nclimate3357

McCrann, T 2017, ‘Wind plus electric = $$$’, Herald Sun, 15 March, p. 53, (online Factiva).

McGaurr, L, Lester, L & Painter, J 2013, ‘Risk, uncertainty and opportunity in climate change coverage: Australia compared’, Australian Journalism Review, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 21–33.

Moomaw, W, Yamba, F, Kamimoto, M, Maurice, L, Nyboer, J, Urama, K, Weir, T, Sokona, Y, Seyboth, K, Matschoss, P, Kadner, S, Zwickel, T, Eickemeier, P & Hansen, G 2011, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, Sustainable Development. Edited by O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, K. Seyboth, P. Matschoss, S. Kadner, T. Zwickel, P. Eickemeier, G. Hansen, S. Schlömer, and C. vo Stechow. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139151153.005

NASA 2017, Climate change: how do we know?, viewed on 25 November 2017, https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Nisbet, MC 2009, ‘Why frames matter for public engagement’, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 12–23, doi: 10.3200/ENVT.51.2.12-23

Nisbet, MC & Kotcher, JE 2009, ‘A two-step flow of influence?’, Science Communication, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 328–354, doi: 10.1177/1075547008328797

NSW Migration Heritage Centre 2011, Building the ‘Snowy’, viewed 25 Novemeber 2017, http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/newaustralia/building-the-snowy/index.html

Olson-Hazboun, SK, Krannich, RS & Robertson, PG 2016, ‘Public views on renewable energy in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States: distinct attitudes, exposure, and other key predictors of wind energy’, Chemical Physics Letters, vol. 21, pp. 167–179 doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2016.07.002

Opt, S & Low, R 2015, ‘Non-scientist sources lend balance, but create bias’, Newspaper Research Journal. Sage Publications Inc., vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 134–148 doi: 10.1177/0739532915580320

Pachauri, RK, Allen, MR, Barros, VR, Broome, J, Cramer, W, Christ, R, Church, JA, Clarke, L, Dahe, Q, Dasgupta, P, Dubash, NK, Edenhofer, O, Elgizouli, I, Field, CB, Forster, P, Friedlingstein, P, Fuglestvedt, J, Gomez-Echeverri, L, Hallegatte, S, Hegerl, G, Howden, M, Jiang, K, Cisneros, B J, Kattsov, V, Lee, H, Mach, K J, Marotzke, J, Mastrandrea, M D, Meyer, L, Minx, J, Mulugetta, Y, O’Brien, K, Oppenheimer, M, Pereira, J J, Pichs-Madruga, R, Plattner, G-K, Pörtner, H-O, Power, S B, Preston, B, Ravindranath, N H, Reisinger, A, Riahi, K, Rusticucci, M, Scholes, R, Seyboth, K, Sokona, Y, Stavins, R, Stocker, T F, Tschakert, P, Vuuren, D van and Ypersele, J-P van 2015, Climate Change 2014: Syntheis Report, Geneva.

Ramanathan, V & Feng, Y 2008, ‘On avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system: formidable challenges ahead’, PNAS, 105, pp. 14245–14250. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803838105

Read, DL, Brown, RF, Thorsteinsson, EB, Morgan, M & Price, 2013, ‘The theory of planned behaviour as a model for predicting public opposition to wind farm developments’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 36, pp. 70–76, doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.07.001

Rockström, J, Gaffney, O, Rogelj, J, Meinshausen, M, Nakicenovic, N & Schellnhuber, HJ 2017, ‘A roadmap

33

for rapid decarbonization’, Science, vol. 355, no. 6331, pp. 1269–1271, doi: 10.1126/science.aah3443

Rood, RB. 2014, ‘What would happen to the climate if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today?’, The Conversation, viewed 22 May 2017, https://theconversation.com/what-would-happen-to-the-climate-if-we-stopped-emitting-greenhouse-gases-today-35011

Roy Morgan Research 2017, Digital audience growth continued to drive newspaper readership higher in 2016 - Roy Morgan Research, Roy Morgan Research Available at: http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7135-australian-newspaper-print-readership-and-cross-platform-audiences-december-2016-201702091424 (Accessed: 11 November 2017).

Schäfer, MS, Ivanova, A & Schmidt, A 2013, ‘What drives media attention for climate change ? Explaining issue attention in Australian , German and Indian print media from 1996 to 2010’, International Communication Gazette, vol. 76, no. 2, pp. 1–25, doi: 10.1177/1748048513504169

Schäfer, MS & Schlichting, I 2014, ‘Media representations of climate change: a meta-analysis of the research field’, Environmental Communication, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 142–160, doi: 10.1080/17524032.2014.914050

Scheufele, D 1999, ‘Framing as a theory of media effects’, Journal of Communication, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 103–122, doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1999.tb02784.x

Simons, M 2007, ‘Crikey bias-o-meter: the newspapers’, Crikey, viewed 06 May 2017, http://www.crikey.com.au/2007/06/26/crikey-bias-o-meter-the-newspapers

Snowy Hydro 2017, ‘About Snowy 2.0’, Snowy Hydro, viewed 24 Novemeber 2017, http://www.snowyhydro.com.au/our-scheme/snowy20/about-snowy-2-0

Speck, DL 2010, ‘A hot topic? Climate change mitigation policies, politics, and the media in Australia’, Research in Human Ecology, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 125–134.

Steffen, W, Alexander, D & Rice, M 2017, Critical decade 2017: accelerating climate action.

Steffen, W, Bambrick, H, Alexander, D & Rice, M 2017, Risky Business: Health, Climate and Economic Risks of the Carmichael Coalmine, Climate Council.

Stephens, JC, Rand, GM & Melnick, LL 2009, ‘Wind energy in US media: a comparative state-level analysis of a critical climate change mitigation technology’, Environmental Communication, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 168–190, doi: 10.1080/17524030902916640

Taylor, A 2017, ‘Snowy fix for power crisis’, The Australian, 15 March, (online Factiva).

Taylor, M 2009, ‘Framing climate change: how we lost 20 years on climate change action’, Chemistry in Australia, vol. 76, no. 11, pp. 24–27.

Teräväinen, T 2014, ‘Representations of energy policy and technology in British and Finnish newspaper media : A comparative perspective’, vol. 18, no. 35, doi: 10.1177/0963662511409122

The Australian 2017 ‘Sun has set on Greens’ dreams’, 16 March, (online Factiva).

The Bureau of Meteorology & CSIRO 2016, State of the climate 2016.

The Guardian 2017, Scott Morrison brings a chunk of coal into parliament, online video, viewed 25 October 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2017/feb/09/scott-morrison-brings-a-chunk-of-coal-into-parliament-video

34

Turnbull, M (Prime Minister of Australia) 2017, Securing australia’s energy future with snowy mountains 2.0, Malcolm Turnbull, Media Release, viewed 2 Ocotober 2017 https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/securing-australias-energy-future-with-snowy-mountains-2.0

Ungar, S. 1992 ‘The rise and (relative) decline of global warming as a social problem’, The Sociological Quarterly, 33(4), pp. 483–501.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2016 Paris Agreement - Status of Ratification, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Available at: http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9444.php (Accessed: 18 July 2018).

Victor, DG, Zhou, D, Ahmed, EHM, Dadhich, PK, Olivier, JGJ, Rogner, H-H, Sheikho, K and Yamaguchi, M 2014 ‘Introductory chapter’, in Edenhofer, O, Pichs-Madruga, R, Sokona, Y, Farahani, E, Kadner, S, Seyboth, K, Adler, A, Baum, I, Brunner, S, Eickemeier, P, Kriemann, B, Savolainen, J, Schlömer, S, von Stechow, C, Zwickel, T, and Minx, JC (eds) Climate change 2014: mitigation of climate change. Contribution of working group III to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom and New York

Viellaris, R 2017, ‘Mal’s hydro tonic’, The Courier Mail, 16 March, p. 4, (online Factiva).

Waitt, G, Farbotko, C & Criddle, B 2012, 'Scalar politics of climate change: Regions, emissions and responsibility', Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, no. 143, pp. 36-46.

Walker, R and Mason, W (eds) 2015, Climate change adaptation for health and social services, CSIRO Publishing, Clayton South.

Weatherill, J (Premier of South Australia) 2017, South Australia is taking charge of its energy future, media release, media release, viewed 27 October 2017, https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/index.php/jay-weatherill-news-releases/7198-south-australia-is-taking-charge-of-its-energy-future.

Wei, J, Wei, Y, Western, A, Skinner, D & Lyle, C 2015, ‘Evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in australia during 1843–2011’, A Journal of the Human Environment, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 319-331, DOI 10.1007/s13280-014-0571-2.

‘We’re paying for dumb decisions’ 2017, The Australian, 17 March, (online Factiva).

Wood, T 2017, ‘Slanging match over energy not a hopeful sign’, The Australian Financial Review, 17 March, p. 43, (online Factiva).

Wood, T, Blowers, D & Moran, G 2016, Keeping the lights on: lessons from South Australia’s power shock, Grattan Institute.

World Meteorological Organization 2016, ‘Globally averaged CO2 levels reach 400 parts per million in 2015’, World Meteorological Organization, viewed 21 November 2017 https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/globally-averaged-co2-levels-reach-400-parts-million-2015

Wright, T 2017, ‘Snow good to be back: icon returns to a central place in the national conversation’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 March, (online Factiva).

Date post:	17-Jun-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	0 times
Download:	0 times

FRAMING OF RENEWABLES IN AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS THE … · state politics regarding South...

Documents