Download THAILAND`S NEWSPAPERS COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

THAILAND’S NEWSPAPERS COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Choices and Challenges in Learning ESD
Jessada Salathong
Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
E-mail address: [email protected]
Abstract
The study is aimed to understand how Thailand’s newspapers cover climate change issues, to
study challenges and possibilities to employ climate change coverage to ESD teaching and learning, and
to suggest how to make the climate change coverage to promote ESD. Methodologies are based on the
triangulation of the interview with eight key informants and the content analysis of three national
newspapers. The study yielded two main findings. The status quo of Thailand’s newspapers coverage on
climate change: Thailand’s newspapers have prioritized climate change but there were some differences
between quality newspapers and popular newspapers. Suggestions to cover climate change in the context
of ESD and choices and challenges to employ them in ESD learning: generally, the make the coverage of
climate change in the context of ESD shared many things in common with producing good environmental
coverage. Although the coverage are very promising to educate the public about climate change as well as
promote ESD learning, there are still many challenges due to the quality and the educational content of
the coverage. The coverage in the context of ESD should reflect the interconnection among the main three
pillars of sustainable development and the future-oriented view. Moreover, the successful ESD story
should be a compelling story with impact.
1. Introduction
During the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002, the
United Nations General Assembly designated 2005-2014 as the “Decade for Education
for Sustainable Development” as a time frame to promote ESD (Education for
Sustainable Development). The concept of “Core ESD Issues”, then, has also been
proposed by UNESCO Bangkok – the lead agency promoting ESD in Asia-Pacific – to
be a main focus area of ESD framework. Among the core issues, climate change was
identified in UNESCO’s Working Paper: Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy for ESD
(UNESCO Bangkok 2005b, 4). The various impacts of climate change could also cause
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serious problems for all walks of life especially people from developing countries,
including Thailand, which forms the basis of the author’s present case study.
In the UNESCO working paper, the importance of the role of the media in
promoting ESD was also cited. The working paper identified the media as one of the
five key groups of stakeholders in promoting ESD, alongside governments and
intergovernmental bodies, civil society, NGOs and the private sector (UNESCO 2005b,
10-11). According to the working paper, the media plays an integral role in increasing
awareness and developing public ownership of the ESD vision.
Among the different forms of media, newspapers can be considered to be one
of the most influential in Thailand. Their importance has been attested by Srisawang
(1989, 2), who pointed out their role in the education of society, raising its level of
awareness and concern for environmental problems. Having established the link
between climate change, education and the media, this study will concentrate on
Thailand’s newspaper coverage of climate change, and how newspapers, as a form of
media, play a role in supporting the framework of ESD. At the same time, given the
author’s academic background in environmental science and prior experience as a
journalist, this study will examine how climate change can be used as a theme to study
ESD issues. The interactions between each field of study as envisioned by the author
can be characterized graphically in figure 1.
Figure 1 Focused area of the study
The present study has two main goals: 1) to understand how Thailand’s
newspapers cover climate change issues as well as choices and challenges to use them
in learning ESD 2) to suggest how Thailand’s newspapers cover climate change stories
in the context of ESD.
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2. Backgrounds
2.1 Newspapers in Thailand
Although newspapers might be less popular compare to other mainstream
media forms, namely television and radio, an advantage newspapers have over them is
the ease in which they can be archived and easily used as an educational tool. Hence,
among the mainstream media, the role of newspapers in environmental education can be
considered the most long-lasting (Rerkpornpipat 2008). To categorize newspapers in
Thailand, Siriyuwasak (2005) suggested six approaches. This study, however, focuses
on the categorization by content. By this mean, newspapers can be categorized into two
groups, popular newspapers and quality newspapers. Popular newspapers focus on
human interest and give more priority to the coverage of weird and novel happenings
which are easily accessible to a broad range of readers. On the other hand, quality
newspapers present harder and more complicated news items. Therefore, the first group
of papers tends to have a greater circulation than the latter.
World Association of Newspapers (WAN) (2008) reported that while
newspaper circulations world-wide rose 2.3 percent in 2006, circulations in Thailand
increased 12.31 percent and remained unchanged in 2007. According to Siriyuwasak’s
frames and the WAN report, some key information about main national daily
newspapers in Thailand is presented in Table 1.
Table 1 Newspapers in Thailand
Newspaper
Language
Content
Readership
Size
Circulation
Thai Rath
Thai
Popular
Mass
Broad Sheet
1,200,000 (36)
Daily News
Thai
Popular
Mass
Broad Sheet
900,000 (56)
Khom Chad Luek
Thai
Popular
Mass
Broad Sheet
850,000 (59)
Khao Sod
Thai
Popular
Mass
Broad Sheet
600,000 (97)
Matichon
Thai
Quality
Mass
Broad Sheet
600,000 (98)
Krungthep Turakij
Thai
Quality
Leader/Elite
Broad Sheet
NA
Post Today
Thai
Quality
Leader/Elite
Broad Sheet
NA
Manager
Thai
Quality
Leader/Elite
Broad Sheet
NA
Bangkok Post
English
Quality
Leader/Elite
Broad Sheet
65,000
The Nation
English
Quality
Leader/Elite
Broad Sheet
54,000
Note
NA: Information is not available
( ) is ranking in WAN’s World’s 100 Largest Newspapers
Source: Modification based on Siriyuwasak (2005) and WAN (2005)
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2.2 Climate Change Coverage in the Context of ESD
Although the existence and science of climate change had been controversial and
debatable, rising temperatures and the change of climate has been a subject of copious
debate/discussion in the media during recent years. The existence of climate change in
media discourse is hence an established fact. However, this study will not deal with the
science of climate change, but focus more on its presence in the context of the media.
Concerning the use of the term “climate change” as opposed to the other
frequently used “global warming”, UNESCO clarified their meaning difference in
Media as Partners in ESD: A Training and Resource Kit. “Climate change” is a more
accurate term than “global warming”, because although the average global temperature
is rising, some parts of the world may in fact become colder. A study by Boykoffs
(2007, 1191) about climate change and journalistic norms also noted that “climate
change” and “global warming” are scientifically distinct; however, it can be used
interchangeably1.
In Thai language, “global warming”, “Phaawa Lokron” or simply “Lokron”,
seems to be dominant since rising temperature is a more prevalent phenomenon in the
country. This study recognizes that the two terms may be used interchangeably
depending on context, but will only use “climate change” as it reflects a more general
view.
Same as climate change, there are many proposals and debates on the definition
of ESD. However, there is no single, universally accepted one. Despite the debate
regarding a precise definition of ESD, this study refer to the meaning of ESD as stated
in UNESCO’s Promotion of Global Partnership for the UN Decade of ESD: The
International Implementation Scheme for the Decade in Brief as “education that
highlights the complexity and interdependence of three spheres, the environment,
society- broadly defined to include culture – and the economy” (UNESCO, 2006). This
mean one characteristic of a coverage in the context of ESD is the multi dimensional
interconnection between the spheres.
As sustainable development is a central part of ESD, in order to figure out the
characteristics of ESD, the notion of sustainable development should be taken into
account. The most widely referred to definition of sustainable development seems to lie
in Our Common Future. It defined sustainable development as “development that meets
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“Global warming” refers to a more specific facet of climate change: the climate characteristic of
temperature while “climate change” also accounts for changes in other climate characteristics, such as
rainfall, ice extent and sea levels (Boykoff and Boykoff 2007, 1191)
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the needs of the present generation without compromising” (WCED, 1987). This
definition of sustainable development leads to the second characteristic of ESD: future
oriented. In addition, Bassorie (2007) also concluded in the same fashion that “ESD is
the effort to create public understanding about the importance of sustainable
development in the daily lives of all human beings today and in future generations.”
Based on the main two characteristics mentioned above, it is proposed that
coverage of climate change in the context of ESD should be balanced by two manners,
as showed in figure 2.
Future oriented vision
Interconnection
Figure 2 Characteristics of ESD
In order to scrutinize how a climate change story can be covered in the context
of ESD, the guidelines proposed in Media as Partners in ESD: A Training and
Resource Kit, chapter 1: Climate Change (UNESCO 2008, 6-12) is studied. It is stated
that “DESD provides an opportunity to promote active learning and suggests ways to
make sense of climate change issues in the context of people’s daily lives,” (Ibid., 6).
This part clearly suggested a direction to adopt in conveying three key messages when
reporting about climate change issues as follows:
Climate change is a global problem, yet each of us has the power to make a difference.
Even small changes in our behavior can help prevent greenhouse emissions without
affecting our quality of life.
Actions to address climate change need to be taken at all levels by everyone (Ibid.,6)
Although Partners in ESD: A Training and Resource suggested some general
guidelines to cover climate change stories in the context of ESD, there is still a lack of
any guide for a journalist to cover stories in the context of ESD, especially in Thailand.
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3. Methodologies
The study employed the triangulation of two methodologies—document
analysis and interview. Figure 3 provides an overview of the research design.
Figure 3 Overview of the research design
The three national dailies; Thairath, Matichon and Bangkok Post; were selected
to represent different readership. Year 2007 was focused as it showed the most
significance according to the preliminary study on Matichon e-Library2 as shown in
figure 4.
No. o f articles
400
300
Thairath
200
Matichon
100
Bangkok Post
0
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Years
Figure 4 Coverage of climate change in selected newspapers, 1997-2007
2
http://www.matichonelibrary.com/
2006
2007
For the interviews, the samples were selected mainly for informative purposes.
Their involvement in climate change coverage and ESD are the main criteria. The study
divided informants into two main groups—media and ESD informants. Eight
informants were selected in total.
4. The status quo of Thailand’s newspapers coverage on climate change
4.1 Frequency
The coverage of climate change in the three newspapers in total is 654 articles.
The details and percentage are presented in figure 5.
350
300
No. of articles
250
200
150
100
50
0
Thairath
Matichon
Bangkok Post
Newspapers
Figure 5 Frequency of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers, 2007
The figure shows that Matichon had the highest total number of articles on
climate change with 305 articles. The second is Bangkok Post with 182 articles. The
least total number of articles belonged to Thairath with 167 articles. Assistant editors
from Thairath and Bangkok Post confirmed that the climate change trend made the
newspapers’ more concerned about the issues and it became their agenda to inform the
public on issues surrounding climate change (Sawaisaenyakorn 2008, Samabhudhi
2008). The informant from Matichon added that climate change was adopted as the
annual agenda of the whole Matichon group including other two daily newspapers,
magazines and Matichon Book (Nunman 2008). In line with this, climate change issues
became one of the reporting agendas of Matichon. However, the reporter from Thairath
commented that the less frequency of climate change news in Thairath might derive
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from the high competition with other news, especially human interest news which is the
main focus of the newspaper (Puraya 2008).
Generally speaking, quality newspapers, Matichon and Bangkok Post, have
higher frequencies than popular newspaper, Thairath. This is probably due to popular
newspapers tending to focus more on human interest gimmick or soft news. Therefore,
climate change issues, which are generally considered as hard news, are often excluded.
Since popular and quality newspaper, as a gate keeper, releases climate change articles
to their readers in different amounts, the climate change knowledge and concern of
people who receives this information may vary. As media also plays an important role
in terms of agenda setting, climate change issues among readers from quality
newspapers would be different from those that cater to a much larger demography.
In monthly average, each newspaper presents 18.2 articles per month.
Matichon covers the climate change issues 25.4 articles per month, while Thairath and
Bangkok Post have 13.9 and 15.7articles per month. The details of frequency of the
coverage in each month are illustrated in figure 6 and table 2.
Table 2 Distribution of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers, 2007 by month
Newspaper
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
2
4
14
8
25
13
11
22
20
16
11
21
167
(1)
(2)
(8)
(5)
(14)
(8)
(7)
(13)
(12)
(10)
(7)
(13)
(100)
12
11
13
26
25
32
23
38
37
29
26
33
305
(4)
(4)
(4)
(9)
(8)
(10)
(8)
(11)
(12)
(10)
(9)
(11)
(100)
8
5
5
15
24
16
18
11
19
11
17
33
182
(4)
(3)
(3)
(8)
(13)
(9)
(10)
(6)
(10)
(6)
(9)
(19)
(100)
Thairath
Matichon
Bangkok
Post
Note: ( ) is percentage
40
No . o f a rticle s
35
30
25
20
Thairath
15
Matichon
Bangkok Post
10
5
0
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Months
Figure 6 Monthly frequency of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers, 2007
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Dec
Schulte suggested that coverage concerning climate change correlates with a
specific event or series of events (2006, 45). In the same fashion, the study found that
one of the most reported events seems to be UN Climate Change Conference in Bali,
Indonesia, in December. Therefore, the amount of articles in Bangkok Post, which
generally prioritize international events, reached its peak during this month. In the same
month, the rest also showed a high amount of coverage, with 33 (11%) and 21 (13%) in
Matichon and Thairath respectively. The second most reported issue seems to be the
IPCC’s series of reports especially the one from GW3 that was launched in Bangkok in
May. Bangkok Post even gave priority to the IPCC conference in Bangkok as it covered
the news surrounding climate change issues in its series of report titled “Warming Up”.
Other events that led to a high coverage are showed in table 3.
Table 3 Timeline of major events surrounding climate change in 2007
Date
Major Events in 2007
2 Feb
IPCC’s WG1 "The Physical Science Basis" was launched in Paris, France
25 Feb
Oscar went to An Inconvenient Truth
30 Mar - 10 Apr
35th National Book Fair & 5th Bangkok International Book Fair 2007 (Matichon
launched the Thai version of An Inconvenient Truth)
6 Apr
IPCC’s WG2 "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" was launched in Brussels,
Belgium
30 Apr
IPCC’s WG3 gathered in Bangkok to finalize its report
4 May
IPCC’s WG3 "Mitigation of Climate Change" report was launched in Bangkok
9 May
Light Out Campaign in Bangkok
5 Jun
World Environment Day
7 Jul
Live Earth concerts
12 Aug
H.M. Queen Sirikit’s birthday (She made a speech concerning climate change)
2 - 9 Sep
APEC Australia
22 Sep
Car Free Day
12 Oct
Al Gore and IPC jointly won Nobel Peace Prize
25 Oct
UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4) assessment report was launched
3-15 Dec
UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia
Although certain events trigger a surge in the amount of articles, sometimes
coverage is not correlated with any distinguished event. It is very interesting to see a
number of coverage during August in Thairath and Matichon since there was no direct
climate change event. However, it may be due to the APEC summit in Australia that
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included a debate on climate change and the speech touching upon climate change by
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand on her birthday.
4.2 Placement
Figure 7, shows a picture of the page distribution of climate change coverage in
the newspapers. Unlike Matichon and Bangkok Post, Thairath has a big cluster of
climate change coverage in a certain page.
100%
80%
others
60%
5th most frequent
4th most frequent
3rd most frequent
40%
2nd most frequent
Most frequent
20%
1st Page
0%
Thairath
Matichon
Bangkok Post
Newspapers
Figure 7 Distribution of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers by page, 2007
In total, only 32 of the 654 articles (4.9%) are on the front page. Off all the
dailies, Matichon has the most coverage on the front page with 22 (7%) of the total
relevant articles. Thairath and Bangkok Post places a close number of climate change
articles on the front page as 4 (2%), and 6 (3%), respectively. UNFCCC conference as
well as other UN reports and conferences on climate change occupy Matichon’s front
page most often. The two climate change issues that received large amount of priority
are the news about global warming’s effects on soft coral in Andaman Sea and Al
Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize. Both stories were presented as headline news accompanied
with photos on the front page. Front page coverage in Bangkok Post also varied with
both domestic and international issues covered. However, Thairath only focuses on a
domestic scale. Among four articles on Thairath’s front page, two are presented in a
form of “scoop”, feature surrounding general information about climate change inside
the newspaper. Another two focused on comments about climate change from
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prominent figures—Queen Sirikit and Bhichit Rattakul, former governor of BMA and
senior advisor of ADPC.
In general, quality newspapers prioritize climate change in its front page more
than popular newspaper. As previously discussed, placement on the front page has a
greater impact on the public as it can be easily seen without buying or reading the
content inside the newspaper. Aside from that, it tends to be used by other Medias like
news commentary programs in television or radio. Therefore, if popular newspaper
places climate change articles on its front cover, there would be more chances to raise
the issue of climate change into the wider public discourse.
Besides the front page, climate change coverage is distributed in different
pages as presented in table 4.
Table 4 Distribution of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers, 2007 by page
1st
Most
2nd most
3rd most
4th most
5th most
Others
Page
frequent
frequent
frequent
frequent
frequent
pages
7p:sci&
15p:
Total
newspapers
2p:Int’l
Thairath
4(2)
22(7)
Bangkok
BKK
35(21)
20(12)
10p:local/
21p:
20p:main
5p: from 1p
quality of life
feature
feature
/quality of life
35(11)
32 (10)
21(7)
20(7)
2p:National
5p:Int’l
9p: Int’l
46 (27)
Post
6(3)
22(12)
news
13(8)
39(13)
8p:Int’l
167
agro
32p:Int’l
Matichon
19p:from 1p/short
8p:econ
22(12)
14(8)
36(22)
14(8)
305
136(45)
3p:National/
6p:Int’l
_ p. is page no, :_ is page details, ( ) is percentage
As much as 46 articles (27%) of climate change coverage in Thairath appears
in page 2, which is dedicated to international news follows by page 7 (science and
agriculture), page 15 (Bangkok), page 8 (economic) and page 19 (continued story from
front page and short news). The remainder of the newspaper contains only 36 articles
(22%) of the coverage. Matichon presents climate change issues most frequently with
39 articles (13%) in its page 32 that belong to international news section. The rest of the
coverage is shared by feature and quality of life space on page 35, 32, 21 and 20. Every
Sunday, however, the daily dedicates pages 8 and 9 to people’s way of life and
environmental issues under a series of feature stories called “Katichon”. Bangkok Post
presents climate change coverage most often in page 8 (international) and 2 (national)
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(100)
182
94(47)
10(5+5)
Note:
(100)
13(8)
(100)
with the same frequency of 22 (12%). The rest are mostly dedicated to international
news follows by national news.
4.3 Visuals
In total, 195 of the 654 articles (29.8%) contain visuals. Overall, Matichon has
the most coverage containing visuals with the high number of 128 (42%). Bangkok Post
rank in the second with 49 articles (27%). The last place belongs to Thairath with only
26 articles (15%). Figure 8 and table 5 provide the proportion of visuals used by the
newspapers.
100%
80%
60%
graphic
picture
40%
no visuals
20%
0%
Thairath
Matichon
Bangkok Post
Newspapers
Figure 8 Visuals of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers, 2007
Table 5 Visuals of climate change coverage in Thailand’s newspapers, 2007
Newspaper
Visuals
No visual
Total
Graphic/diagram
Photo
Thairath
0 (0)
26 (15)
149 (85)
167 (100)
Matichon
24 (8)
104 (34)
177 (58)
305 (100)
Bangkok Post
4 (2)
45 (25)
133 (73)
182 (100)
Note: ( ) is percentage
None of the newspapers use cartoons and illustrations. Thairath has no article
containing graphics. On another hand, Matichon use graphics more often among the
three with 24 articles (8%). There are a few articles that even contain both graphics and
photos. The graphics used in Matichon and Bangkok Post are scientifically illustrative
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in the form of statistic bars and charts or scientific models of climate change related
chemical reaction. Due to its complication, this might be a reason why Thairath avoids
using them.
Matichon has most articles containing photos, 104 (34%), follows by Bangkok
Post, 45 (25%) and Thairath 26 (15%). The photos often depict natural calamities such
as droughts and floods as well as major international events especially IPCC and
UNFCC conferences. Prominent people surrounding international and national climate
change movement are also often presented. Al Gore is one of the internationally
recognized figures that have been featured the most often while Bangkok mayor, Apirak
Gosayothin, represents the domestic side. Matichon, however, also regularly presents
photos of An Inconvenient Truth book in Thai version and its anti-global warming
activities, which is the publishing company’s flagship project since 2007.
It can be clearly seen that quality newspapers give more importance to visuals
than its counterparts. The high amount of articles with visuals may reflects that quality
newspaper give more priority on climate change.
5. Choices and Challenges in Learning in the Context of ESD
Many research shows that newspapers can be used as an effective tool in
classroom (Schaupp and Lane 1992 and Ngunpat 1994). Although other form of media
like TV or websites seems to be promising, newspaper is still a good choice as it is
achievable and cheap. Moreover, the internet access in Thailand is still limited as the
2007 Information and Communication Technology Survey by National Statistical
Office, Ministry of ICT reveal that there are about 9,320,000 Internet users or only
around 1.6% of the total population (NSO, 2008).
In teaching and learning ESD, the climate change coverage in Thailand’s
newspapers is promising as plenty of coverage has been produced over the past few
years. However, all the stakeholders especially reporters and instructors have to be
equipped with a knowledge about ESD.
A discussion of a newspaper article is not only bringing the new atmosphere to
the class but also providing students with an opportunity to make a discussion and
analysis on the basis of the real illustration of the real situation. Schaupp and Lane
(1992, 227) suggested the basic approach to the use of newspaper articles as case
discussion. Based on that suggestion, the case climate change article discussion in the
context of ESD is:
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1) Selection of an article.
2) Gathering background information.
3) Class discussion of the article (The class should be reminded about the
characteristics of as mentioned previously.)
4) Summary discussion and recommendations. (Relevant speakers may be
invited.)
However, teaching and learning ESD is not only being confined within a class
room. As ESD can be perceived in various forms of education including non formal
education and live long education, climate change coverage that is reported in the
context of ESD would be beneficial.
Thailand’s newspapers have prioritized climate change issue more particularly
in 2007. However, despite the quantity, quality of the coverage is being questioned. The
main concern is the lack of analytical and informative coverage. In this regard, although
the newspapers present a number of coverage, they might not effectively educate the
public about climate change. As one option to ensure effective and educational
coverage, climate change coverage in the context of ESD is suggested.
Suggested content
1) Climate change is a global problem.
2) Everyone is affected but everyone can make a difference.
3) Preventing greenhouse emissions can be done in our daily life without
affecting our quality of life.
4) Actions to address climate change need to be taken at all levels by
everyone.
5) The coverage should be future-oriented, think about the effect in the future.
6) Skeptics’ view should be kept.
7) More analytical style is preferred.
8) Story has to be interesting yet educational and informative that encourages
readers to think further.
9) The coverage has to be linked with other aspects in a way that make the
readers realize the impact of climate change on them.
10) The successful one should be a compelling story with impact.
11) The story should be investigative
Suggested writing and presentation style
12) Explanation on what is possible and what is being done.
13) Report on case studies will reflect problems and solutions.
14) Exaggerated claims should be filtered out.
15) Communication to the audience should be in a highly understandable way.
16) Jargon and English terms should be avoided.
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17) Comments and opinions from experts should be added.
18) Informing people about conventions and international agreements have to
be ensured.
19) Graphics, cartoon, and the story of a certain case is recommended.
Suggested actions for journalists and newspapers
20) Journalists need to update and equip themselves with climate change
information.
21) Certain space is needed.
22) Popular newspaper should play more role as it has a mass readership.
Generally speaking, covering climate change in the context of ESD is very
similar to producing good environmental coverage. However, future oriented and
interconnected characteristics should be highlighted. It can be more elaborated as the
informants suggested that the coverage has to be linked with other aspects in a way that
make the readers realize the impact to them as well as the effect on the future.
In order to have a good coverage of climate change in the context of ESD,
features or columns are preferred since they allow reporters/writers to add more
information, visuals, details as well as more space to point out the interconnection or the
impact in the future. However, news coverage is still important keep the readers
informed about the fresh climate change issues. It can fit into the limitation of space. To
make the climate change news go along with ESD, however, the series of news
reporting in a certain period might be an option. Moreover, the news especially on the
front page can be a good way to capitalize in opening a new topic about climate change
and bringing better coverage either in a form of feature or column.
6. Conclusion
Quantitatively speaking, Matichon had the highest frequency, front page
coverage and visuals of climate change coverage, followed by Bangkok Post and
Thairath. Based on quantitative proxies mentioned above, quality newspaper seems to
give more priority to climate change issues. Another point that can be noticed is the
articles contained both strands of action against climate change: mitigation and
adaptation.
Qualitatively speaking, climate change was generally framed under
international news with the key figures of IPCC, UNFCC and Al Gore. National news
frame that was secondly mentioned generally cover the story of diseases or natural
calamities. Through news value lenses, conflict is not an outstanding value of climate
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change story like other environmental news. Hence, other news value is strong in
climate change coverage. In addition, Quality newspaper seemed to present climate
change coverage with more information and details such as charts or pictures.
The qualitative and quantitative differences between quality and popular
newspaper should be marked. As newspapers also plays an important role in agenda
setting and educating the public, the differences may divide climate change knowledge
and perception between the readers of quality and popular newspaper, which is the
majority of the country’s population.
Because of the rising trend of climate change, Thailand’s newspaper has
prioritized climate change issue more in 2007. This highlights an opportunity to employ
the climate change article as a tool of learning ESD. However, despite the quantity,
quality of the coverage is being questioned. The main concern is the lack of analytical
and informative coverage. Among a number of climate change coverage, PR news and
unrelated news are also spotted. The lack of analytical perspective also weakens the
quality of the coverage to merely reporting an event on the ground. In this regard,
although the newspapers present a number of coverage, they might not effectively
educate the public about climate change. Although providing a space for climate change
story is easier than ever, limitations still exist. The most important one seem to be the
lack of a certain space for the coverage. Having a specific space can secure climate
change coverage from a high competition with other news especially in popular
newspaper that human interest type of news is prioritized.
7. References
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Interviews
Harakunarak, Ampai. 2008. Interview by author. TEI, Bangkok. March 2008.
Nunman, Chutima. 2008. Interview by author. MONRE, Bangkok. March 2008.
Puraya, Kreangkrai. 2008. Interview by author. MONRE, Bangkok. March 2008.
Samabhudhi, Kulthida. 2008. Interview by author. Bangkok Post, Bangkok. March 2008.
Sangpen, Suranee. 2008. Interview by author. Telephone, Bangkok. March 2008.
Sawaisaenyakorn, Thitiwan.2008. Interview by author. Telephone, Bangkok. March 2008.
Chotana,Duangkamol. 2008. Interview by author. Krungthep Turakij, Bangkok. March 2008.
Srisuk, Savitree. 2008. Interview by author. DEQP, Bangkok. March 2008.
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