Posted: April 24th, 2025

Media entry on Climate crisis 400 words

  The Guardian has recently changed its editorial policies on reporting the climate crisis. What has changed and why? What is the problem and the proposed solution? Does this adequately address the concerns raised by media scholars?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-thelanguage-it-uses-about-the-environment

400 words excluding references, use Harvard referencing style, focus on media framing

Academic writing, use the attached article as source

No AI

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On: 30 October 2014, At: 21:55
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Environmental Communication
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Climate Refugees or Migrants?
Contesting Media Frames on Climate
Justice in the Pacific
Tanja Dreher & Michelle Voyer

Published online: 04 Jul 2014.

To cite this article: Tanja Dreher & Michelle Voyer (2014): Climate Refugees or Migrants?
Contesting Media Frames on Climate Justice in the Pacific, Environmental Communication, DOI:
10.1080/17524032.2014.932818

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.932818

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Climate Refugees or Migrants?
Contesting Media Frames on Climate
Justice in the Pacific
Tanja Dreher & Michelle Voyer

Climate justice is rarely encountered in Australian media coverage of issues around
climate change. The rare coverage of climate justice issues often focuses on Small Island
Developing States (SIDS) such as Kiribati and commonly makes use of four main
media frames: SIDS as “proof” of climate change, SIDS as “victims” of climate change,
SIDS communities as climate “refugees,” and SIDS as travel destinations. Yet these
frames undermine the desire of SIDS communities to be seen as proactive, self-
determining, and active agents of change. This paper explores the way in which Pacific
Islanders view the existing media coverage of their concerns over climate change and
how they would prefer the media to tell their stories. Through an action research
collaboration with a climate change non-governmental organization working in Kiribati
and Australia, participants proposed alternative frames for climate justice media,
including frames of human rights, active change agents, and migration with dignity.

Keywords: framing; climate change; climate justice; media interventions

A Climate Justice approach will amplify the voices of those people who have done
least to cause climate change, but who are affected most severely by it—Mary
Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 1997–2002.
(Robinson, 2010)

Despite the prominence of climate change debates in global and national media, the
climate justice approach advocated by former UN Human Rights High Commis-
sioner Mary Robinson is all too rare. A central contention of the climate justice
approach is that those who are most severely affected by global warming are not only
those who have done the least to cause it—some of the least developed nations of the
Global South (Doyle, 2011)—but are also those whose voices are least likely to be

Tanja Dreher, Ph.D., is the Program Convenor, International Media and Communication, Faculty of Arts,
University of Wollongong, Australia. Michelle Voyer, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant with the Faculty of Arts and
Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Correspondence to: Tanja Dreher, Faculty of Law,
Humanities and the Arts, University ofWollongongWollongong, NSW2522, Australia. Email: tanjad@uow.edu.au

Environmental Communication, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.932818

© 2014 Taylor & Francis

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mailto:tanjad@uow.edu.au

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.932818

heard in international debates and negotiations around the impacts of climate change.
“Climate justice” refers to claims for greater equality in both the distribution of
climate change impacts, and among the participants in negotiations on suitable
responses (Schmidt, 2012, p. 10). A key challenge for climate justice, therefore, is to
ensure a hearing for those people and countries that face the impacts of global
warming in their daily lives. In this paper we examine the media intervention work of
Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP), a non-governmental organization (NGO) working
with Pacific Island communities severely affected by climate change and aiming to
amplify their voices.

Lakoff argues that the environmental movement needs effective and coherent
framing in order to mobilize political action (2010). While much recent research
examines the framing of environmental politics in various countries of the Global
North (e.g. Brulle, 2010; Lakoff, 2010) this paper analyzes media frames advocated by
an NGO working with people in the Global South who are directly impacted by
climate change—specifically the people of Kiribati, a Small Island Developing State
(SIDS) in the Pacific. This paper seeks to explore the way in which Pacific Islanders
view the existing media coverage of their concerns over climate change and how they
would prefer the media to tell their stories. This paper addresses the following
research questions: how do people working at the forefront of climate change impacts
in the Pacific respond to climate justice media coverage? What are their preferred
media frames for representing climate change impacts for SIDS? And what are the
challenges for a climate justice approach in the Australian media?

The emerging research in this area indicates that the voices of Pacific Islanders are
rarely heard in climate change reporting, and climate change impacts in the Pacific
are usually framed in ways that center the interests and concerns of more powerful
countries, such as Australia. Influenced by action research traditions and grounded
in recent scholarship on media interventions, our research sought to maximize
opportunities for people working at the front line of climate change impacts in
the Pacific to speak on their own terms and to mobilize their own preferred climate
justice media frames. The academic literature identifies four frames in climate
justice reporting of SIDS: SIDS as “proof” of climate change, SIDS as “victims” of
climate change, SIDS citizens as climate change “refugees,” and SIDS as travel
destinations. Through a variety of qualitative research methods, PCP informants were
able to respond to these media frames and propose alternatives, including frames of
human rights, active change agents, and migration with dignity.

The selection of PCP is based in an emerging research agenda on media
interventions and a commitment to action research. This approach is influenced by
our own interest in climate justice; the research seeks to analyze and amplify the
voices of people most impacted by climate change, who are rarely heard in mass
media, or in academic scholarship. Research on media interventions investigates a
very broad range of alternative media strategies whereby a variety of actors who are
not media professionals seek to influence or intervene in media representations of
their communities and/or issues of concern (Dreher, 2010; Howley, 2013). The focus

2 T. Dreher and M. Voyer

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on media interventions responds to Couldry’s call to “re-center” media studies
around alternative media, broadly defined, in order to effectively grapple with the
possibilities and limitations for media change (2001). Couldry theorizes the
structured break between media producers and media consumers as a symbolic
hierarchy in which symbolic power is concentrated in media institutions (Couldry,
2000, 2001). Following Bourdieu, symbolic power is understood as “the power of
constructing reality,” of naming and defining the social world (Bourdieu, 1991).
Alternative media are significant precisely because they challenge and make visible
media power “as a systematic structure of symbolic inclusion and exclusion”
(Couldry, 2001, pp. 2–3). Media intervention projects such as PCP are significant,
therefore, not primarily for their direct impact on mainstream media—which may
well be limited—but for their ability to demonstrate that alternative ways of naming
and framing the world are possible, and for revealing the exclusions of media power.

The PCP is an amalgam of Christian, community and educational organizations
in Australia and the Pacific established in 2006 in response to calls from people in
low-lying Pacific Islands. PCP aims to raise awareness and lobby for climate action on
behalf of several Pacific Island nations, including Kiribati and Tuvalu. They do so by
listening to local voices and amplifying these voices to new audiences. They describe
themselves as representing “countries whose voice is usually lost in the din of the
world” (Pacific Calling Partnership, 2012). The PCP thus aims to encapsulate the role
of alternative media as theorized by Couldry (2001) and the climate justice approach
advocated by Mary Robinson (2010)—seeking to “amplify the voices of those people
who have done least to cause climate change, but who are affected most severely
by it.”

News Frames and Climate Change Impacts

The way news is constructed, organized, or presented, emphasizing some aspects
while excluding or de-emphasizing others, is often described as “media framing”
(Gitlin, 1980). “Frame analysis” was first developed by Goffman (1974) and assumes
that frames establish “the fundamental categories in which thinking can take place. It
establishes the limits of discussion and defines the range of problems that can be
addressed” (Wuthnow, 1989, p. 13).

Like a window focusing attention on only one aspect of the landscape, frames call
attention to some aspects of a news story while simultaneously directing attention
away from other aspects. Framing can focus attention toward particular policies
and interpretations and marginalize or exclude particular voices or solutions (e.g.
Entman & Rojecki, 1993; Gitlin, 1980; Gamson, 1992). The framing of environmental
issues in the media thus directs both thinking and action (Väliverronen, 2001, p. 41)
and media framing “has a decisive role in defining risks and influencing what issues
are to be put on the political agenda” (Jönsson, 2011, p. 121). Framing is particularly
significant in the case of complex and uncertain risks such as environmental risks,
including climate change, as these risks are largely invisible and beyond individual
direct experience (Doyle, 2011; Jönsson, 2011, p. 123).

Climate Refugees or Migrants? 3

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Attention to news frames emphasizes not merely what a story is about, but rather
how that story is told. The news-making process can be understood as a struggle
between sources and journalists in order to have a particular “framing” of events
adopted in news reporting (Palmer, 2000, pp. 14–15). NGOs such as PCP aiming to
amplify marginalized voices often seek to recognize dominant media framing of their
issues and communities and develop alternative frames to better represent their
preferred interpretations and responses (Palmer, 2000; Wallack, Dorfman, Jernigan,
& Themba-Nixon, 1993).

Framing climate change

Climate change has emerged over the last decade as a global crisis that is scientifically
and politically contested and as such has attracted considerable international media
attention. The mass media have been implicated in the on-going debates over the
authenticity or reliability of climate change phenomena in what has been described as
the “Scientific Uncertainty” frame (Schmidt, 2012, p. 9). Many news outlets in
Australia, the UK and the USA have contributed to the uncertainty around climate
science through what has become known as “balance as bias” whereby they provide
relatively equal coverage to climate scientists who support and question the likelihood
of human-induced climate change despite the fact that the scientific field is not equally
divided along these lines (Boykoff, 2008; Boykoff & Boykoff, 2004, 2007). Lakoff
suggests that the phrase “climate change” is itself the product of a political strategy of
the Bush administration in the USA, designed to reframe “global warming” into a less
threatening frame which obscures the role of human causation (2010, p. 71).

Schmidt (2012) finds that scientific uncertainty around climate change is largely
confined to the powerful Anglophone countries, and the USA in particular, while
news media in Germany and India, for example, largely accept the scientific
consensus and focus on debates about appropriate responses (see also Painter,
2011). In Australia, “balance as bias” remains a prevalent trend (Bacon, 2011; Chubb
& Bacon, 2010). In April 2012 the national public broadcaster, the ABC, was accused
of “false balance” in the production of a reality TV documentary which provided
equal airtime for a young advocate for climate change action and a well-known
climate skeptic (Ashley, 2012). The politics of climate change also features
prominently in reporting both domestically and internationally through UN
conferences such as Copenhagen, Cancun, Durban, and more recently Doha, where
countries seek to reach some form of consensus on future action on climate change
(Schmidt, 2012, p. 10).

Finally, natural disasters or extreme weather events are often linked in some way
to climate change in news media (Boykoff, 2008; Lester, 2010). Climate change is
therefore largely seen in the USA, UK, and Australian media as an environmental or
political issue. Relatively little coverage is given to the human aspects of climate
change. Examination of tabloid papers in the UK found that only a very small
percentage of articles used frames of “justice and risk,” which examined the uneven
distribution of climate change risks within society. Journalists interviewed for the

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study cited the complexities of such stories when compared with the more
straightforward reporting of statements or movements of politicians or links between
natural disasters and climate change. Tight deadlines and limited column inches
contributed to this preference for simpler content (Boykoff, 2008).

Doyle argues that “one of the difficulties in engaging people with climate change
is due to its historical framing as an environmental issue, which has led to a
separation of humans and culture from the environment” (2011, p. 3). In particular,
Doyle examines the “investment in the visible as evidence of truth” as characteristic
of both science and environmentalism, resulting in an over-reliance on iconic or
spectacular images to communicate the unseen and invisible characteristics of climate
change (Beck, 1992). In response, Doyle locates Mary Robinson’s climate justice
challenge firmly in the arena of media framing:

If climate change is framed as an issue of social justice, then the human costs of
climate change as a result of the unequal distribution of, and access, to, natural
resources, are brought to the fore. Framing climate change as a humanitarian and
social justice issue constitutes a moral imperative to act. (2011, p. 6)

While the importance of shifting media frames toward climate justice is therefore
increasingly acknowledged, the process by which this can be achieved can be difficult.
How do those most severely impacted by climate change gain a voice in the media
and how do they ensure their voices are heard?

Climate Justice and the Media

Despite the media framing that predominately treats climate change as an
environmental or political issue, there is an increasingly recognition that it is also a
social justice and human rights issue (Doyle, 2011; Schmidt, 2012). Climate justice
claims in media debates, however, have yet to be systematically analyzed (Schmidt,
2012, p. 13). Preliminary research finds that climate justice features more
prominently in media coverage in India than in the USA, with very different
interpretations of the significance of historically unequal responsibility (Schmidt,
2012, pp. 17–19).

Some of the communities at the front line of the climate justice debate include
SIDS. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) characterizes SIDS as
vulnerable to climate change due to a range of factors including their small size,
limited natural resources, proneness to natural disasters, relative isolation, and poorly
developed infrastructure. Climate change threatens the citizens of these states through
groundwater contamination by saltwater intrusion, coastal erosion, habitat loss, and
associated food security issues (Cameron, 2011; Intergovernmental Panel Climate
Change, 1997). A climate justice framework highlights the fact that developed
countries such as Australia or the USA tend to be high per capita polluters, with
energy-intensive lifestyles and economies, where the impacts of climate change are
still emerging. SIDS, in contrast, tend to be low emitters, with limited electricity, cars,
or other sources of carbon pollution, and yet the impacts of climate change on SIDS

Climate Refugees or Migrants? 5

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are immediately evident and likely catastrophic. Despite this disparity, it is the
developed nations that are the most powerful voices in debates over climate change
action, while SIDS are marginalized in international negotiations (Ryan, 2010).

While coverage of climate justice issues is only slowly emerging in mainstream
media in the USA, the UK, and Australia (Bacon 2011; Boykoff, 2008; Nerlich,
Forsyth, & Clarke, 2012; Schmidt, 2012), there is some evidence that media interest in
SIDS is growing. In recent years journalists, environmentalists, and documentary
makers have converged on SIDS to gather footage of flooding, coastal erosion, and
storm surges in an attempt to identify where global climate change theory intersects
with local people (Cameron, 2011; Farbotko, 2010b).

This paper examines the way the Australian media frames climate justice in
relation to the work of a small NGO, the climate justice advocacy group PCP. It
begins by outlining dominant media frames relating to climate justice and their role
in the reporting of the work of the PCP. It goes on to explore PCP responses to these
frames and the alternative or preferred frames developed by PCP respondents as part
of the action research process.

Research Approach and Methods

This study employed a mix of qualitative methods underpinned by action research
principles. Action research is well established in the fields of public health and
education (Mullett & Fletcher, 2011) and is increasingly adopted in media and
communication studies (Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1996; Tacchi, Foth & Hearn,
2003). Rather than a single methodology, action research is an approach which
positions research as a contribution to social change and seeks to challenge
inequalities as well as analyzing exclusions (Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1996).
Action research aims to democratize the research process by breaking down the
hierarchy between research subjects and researchers, by giving voice to the expertise
and input of participants in the research, prioritizing the co-creation of knowledge
and by ensuring research outcomes which are useful to participating individuals and/
or organizations as well as to academic researchers (Buckingham & Sefton-Green,
1996; Machin-Mastromatteo, 2012; Mullett & Fletcher, 2011; Tacchi et al., 2003). As
Herr and Anderson stress, action research “tempers expert knowledge with the
expertise of locals [or participants] about their own problems or solutions” (2005,
pp. 9–10). Action research therefore does not aim for objective distance from research
participants, but rather seeks to maximize opportunities for collaboration and mutual
learning, for community development and social change outcomes. The action
research aim to facilitate change and improve practice (Machin-Mastromatteo, 2012,
p. 572) was deemed essential in researching media and climate justice, where the
challenge issued by former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary
Robinson, is to amplify the voices of those who have done least to contribute to
climate change, but are the most severely affected.

The qualitative methods employed in this study included interviews and
participant observation. A literature search of research articles relating to “climate

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change” and “climate justice,” “Small Island States” and “Pacific Islands,” and other
related search terms was conducted. This search revealed a limited but emerging field
of scholarly research into climate justice, much of which included discussion of the
role of the media in communicating the issues around climate change for vulnerable
communities such as SIDS. A review of this literature identified regular references to
dominant media frames in discussions about any media coverage relating to climate
justice. These frames have been summarized and explored in detail below. The
validity of this categorization of frames was tested by conducting a Factiva/Google
search, using the search terms “climate change” and “Pacific.” This search incorporated
Australian news media between the dates of January 2010 and January 2012 and found
readily available examples of each of the four frames the literature review identified.
The Factiva search was then narrowed to specifically analyze the media surrounding
the work of the PCP by refining the search terms to “Pacific Calling Partnership,” and
other terms directly relevant to the work of the PCP (including the names of key
activists and staff within the organization). Content analysis was used to identify
the key media frames in these articles to determine whether they conformed to the
dominant frames identified in the literature review.

A series of five semi-structured depth interviews were conducted with a purposive
sample of staff and volunteers at PCP. Interviews were conducted at the PCP offices,
lasting 1–1.5 hours per interview. The interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and
analyzed thematically. Transcripts were returned to interviewees for clarification and
further comments. The interviews discussed the role the media play in the
organization’s efforts to “listen” and “amplify” Pacific voices. Interviewees included
Phil Glendenning, the Director of the Edmund Rice Centre, the Catholic social justice
advocacy group that established the PCP. They also included PCP Eco-Justice
Coordinator Jill Finnane and three I-Kiribati staff and/or volunteers working with the
PCP on climate justice issues: Maria Chi-Fang (PCP Outreach Officer), Kateia Kei
Kei (PCP Outreach officer), and Kooba Kakiaman (PCP Volunteer).

In addition participant observation was conducted at a range of PCP events
including screening of documentary films and workshop sessions, as well as
monitoring the PCP email newsletter. A research diary was used to record notes
and observations on public statements by PCP members, and the responses of
audiences. The project also included action research activities, whereby University
of Wollongong (UOW) researchers and the PCP collaborated on the organization of
two media advocacy events. These included a public forum held at the UOW, jointly
organized by the researchers and the PCP, which directly addressed the role of media
in the work of PCP and how Pacific Islanders responded to the dominant media
frames identified in media coverage of their stories. The second event was a Morning
Tea with journalists organized in the lead-up to the UN Climate talks in Doha during
December 2012. At each event, UOW researchers were involved as organizers,
facilitators, and speakers alongside PCP staff. Through these processes the researchers
were in regular contact with PCP over a 12-month period, with the opportunity to
observe and discuss media strategies at close quarters.

Climate Refugees or Migrants? 7

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The action research principles adopted allowed findings to emerge that had not
been predicted by the researchers at the outset, and ensured practical outcomes for
the research partners, PCP. For example, planning for the public forum held at UOW
clarified PCP responses to the dominant media frames analyzed below. In preparing
for the workshop, the UOW researchers presented to PCP staff the four frames
identified via literature review. This precipitated a discussion in which PCP workers
responded to the dominant climate justice media frames and explained their
concerns. Following this discussion, PCP Outreach Officer Kateia KeiKei developed
a PowerPoint presentation for the public forum that clearly and succinctly outlined
the responses and suggested alternative framings. This process produced valuable
outcomes for the researchers, as issues raised in the interviews were clarified, and
further data were made available for analysis. The process also produced valuable
outcomes for PCP in the form of a public audience and opportunities to refine media
strategies.

Dominant Media Frames

A literature review of scholarly research into climate justice issues identified regular
references to dominant media frames in Australian media coverage relating to climate
justice. These have been categorized into four main themes, outlined below.

SIDS as “proof” of climate change

The dominance of debates over the legitimacy and accuracy of climate change science
in the political and scientific arena has led to a conflicted and highly contested
account of what constitutes the “truth” of climate change (Boykoff, 2008; Boykoff &
Boykoff, 2007; Cameron, 2011; Cohen, 2012). In response to this confusion a range of
international environmentalists and journalists have sought to uncover this “truth” by
producing “eye witness” accounts of climate change impacts, facilitated by online
news and social media (Cameron, 2011). This has focused global attention on parts of
the world considered most vulnerable to climate change including SIDS, such as
Tuvalu and Kiribati in the Pacific. Examples of the “proof of climate change” framing
include a 2010 newspaper report, “Kiribati to show the world effects of climate
change” previewing an upcoming meeting on Kiribati: “About 40 officials from
around the world will fly to the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati next week to take a look
at the immediate impact climate change is having on the Pacific nation” (AAP, 2010).

SIDS as “victims” of climate change

Another common framing of SIDS communities presents them as “victims” of
climate change. Framing islanders in this way is an attempt to link personal ethics
and compassion to people both geographically and temporally removed, including
future generations (Cameron, 2011; Farbotko, 2010b). The articles draw attention to
the many challenges that SIDS communities face and often link them with personal

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stories of suffering (Farbotko, 2005, 2010b). In a recent example, ABC Radio featured
a report called “A sinking feeling in the Torres Straits” which described the impacts
including king tides washing raw sewerage into freshwater lagoons, the growing
mosquito population, associated malarial risks, and crumbling sea walls
(Cohen, 2012).

SIDS citizens as climate change “refugees”

As climate change threatens the continued habitability of many low-lying islands,
attention has turned to how they will be accommodated if sea-level rise and salt water
intrusion forces the relocation of SIDS communities. This has led to the identification
of SIDS communities as a new and evolving category of refugee—the environmental
or climate change refugee (Farbotko, 2005, 2010b; Farbotko & Lazrus, 2012;
McNamara & Gibson, 2009). These terms are used to refer to communities and
individuals who are forced to move as a result of the impacts of climate change,
whether as a result of rising sea levels in the Pacific or increasing drought in parts of
Africa. There are numerous examples of this framing in mass media circulations,
including a 2012 publication in the Sydney Morning Herald “Climate change
castaways consider move to Australia,” which identifies Australia as a potential
home for “a mass wave of climate refugees seeking a new place to live”
(Doherty, 2012).

SIDS as travel destinations

Finally, some media promote island locations as a travel destinations encouraging
travelers to “see it before it’s gone” (Farbotko, 2010a; Farbotko & Lazrus, 2012). For
example, in 2006 a story appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Travel section
under the title “Toodle-oo Tuvalau!,” detailing the unspoilt beauty of the country
with “not a single fast-food outlet, and more fresh fish then you can poke a rod at”
(Balmain, 2006). Portraying Pacific Islands in this way objectifies islanders as tourism
commodities and while it may provoke compassionate responses in the tourists it
attracts it also presents a problematic irony in that the travelers arrive via polluting
aircraft (Farbotko, 2010a).

Responding to Media Frames

The name “Pacific Calling Partnership” reflects the organization’s aims to listen out
for Pacific voices, and then to amplify their calls. According to PCP Eco-Justice
coordinator Jill Finnane, the PCP grew out of workshops conducted in Kiribati to
educate Islanders about mangrove planting, composting and the like. The workshop
concluded with a video on global warming, prompting Finnane to apologize for the
Australian Government’s then failure to sign the Kyoto protocol. She asked the
workshop participants if they had a message for the Australian Government—these
were recorded on butcher’s paper and are now kept, laminated, as the organization’s

Climate Refugees or Migrants? 9

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“sacred texts.” The PCP thus began with a commitment to listen out for Pacific voices
and amplify them to the world, rather than bringing expertise or education from
Australia to Kiribati.

Despite the growing media interest in their plight, Pacific Island nations and other
SIDS often feel that their voices are rarely heard and if so, seldom listened to
(Kelman, 2010; Paton & Fairbairn-Dunlop, 2010; Ryan, 2010). Much of the media
surrounding these islands are aimed at what Cameron (2011) classifies as “consumer-
driven modes of citizenship” or “ecological citizenship” in which individual lifestyle
choices are located within a global context. Therefore, the use of the Islanders’ stories
are not always directly used to the advantage of the Islanders themselves but rather to
illustrate a point in a much larger story, focused on the lifestyles and choices of
people in the wealthy developing nations. In addition Farbotko and Lazrus (2012)
argue that many of these frames impose western views of nature and the “noble
savage” on SIDS and SIDS communities, views that are not always consistent with the
cultural beliefs and practices of Islanders. This study identifies the ways in which
Pacific Islanders viewed the media coverage of their concerns over climate change
and how they would prefer the media to tell their stories.

PCP Preferred Frames for Media and Climate Justice

Regular interactions including formal interviews, action research, and participant
observations served to identify a number of key concerns in regard to the climate
justice media frames discussed above, as well as the preferred frames put forward by
Pacific Islanders and their advocates in response to those dominant frames. Rather
than framing the story of Kiribati as “victims” or “proof” of climate change, PCP
Outreach Officer Kateia KeiKei challenged the media to “portray us as human beings,
as real people with dignity and dreams for the future.”

Human rights rather than instrumental “proof” of climate change

SIDS provide tangible evidence of climate change and point to their potentially
destructive impacts (Cameron, 2011; Farbotko, 2005, 2010a, 2010b; Farbotko &
Lazrus, 2012; Kelman, 2010; Paton & Fairbairn-Dunlop, 2010). Yet Farbotko and
Lazrus (2012) argues that much of this coverage is focused more on planetary
salvation than the welfare of the islands and islanders themselves and that, in fact, the
fate of these islands is incidental, even welcomed, by some within the international
community as it is seen as providing evidence to assist in their more global
campaigns on climate change action.

In response to the “proof of climate change” frame, advocates involved with PCP
asked for respect of the right to exist, arguing that Kiribati and I-Kiribati are more
than simply “proof” of climate change for a skeptical world. In slides prepared for the
public workshop held at the UOW in 2012, Kateia KeiKei argued for a human rights
framing: “by presenting our needs and human rights as important—we are not just
proof of what developed countries will face.”

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In a study of human rights framing in reporting on the global financial crisis
(GFC), Chalabi (2010) finds that the GFC was rarely framed in human rights terms,
in part because news conventions assume that human rights are esoteric or “soft
news” in contrast to the “hard news” of financial indicators and economics. Pacific
Islanders face a comparable challenge, in which the physical evidence of climate
change impacts on their islands is considered newsworthy, yet the wider human rights
implications are rarely addressed. Interviewees identified climate change skepticism in
Australia as a key challenge in effectively disseminating their messages and effecting
change. The bid to have the voices of Pacific Islanders heard is repeatedly frustrated
by media attention focused on the debates over the veracity of human-induced
climate change and the government’s policy position on climate action:

the climate issues in Australia are so stark at the moment that there’s very little
room for the Pacific story. (Jill Finnane, Eco Justice co-ordinator, PCP)

PCP staff and volunteers had concerns over the use of Pacific Islands as the analogous
“canary in the coalmine” in public debates on the science of climate change. Partly
these concerns centered on the sensationalist element of some media coverage that
would potentially expose the group to criticism and detract from the seriousness of
the message. The insidious and gradual nature of climate change impacts mean that
the “proof” of climate change is often less dramatic than the images that are sought
by news media outlets. At the PCP Morning Tea for journalists there was a
thoughtful discussion of the pros and cons of attempting to generate media attention
around the king tides expected in February 2013. While there was general agreement
that the visuals would be compelling and effective, there was also concern that such
images leave the organization open to criticisms that they are “exaggerating” or
sensationalizing the everyday impacts. PCP members are regularly confronted by
climate skeptics and this engenders a degree of caution and difficult strategizing in
determining the most appropriate images and stories to pitch to media.

The members of PCP acknowledged, however, that in order for action on climate
change to be generated, there is a need to address climate change skepticism, and they
saw their stories as being a powerful and convincing tool:

I know that climate change is not something that people are just making up, even
though there are so many skeptic people! And even though they don’t believe in
climate change, but I really feel that when you go to the place, to the island, and live
with the people and see it and experience it yourself, then you know. (Maria Chi-
Fang, PCP outreach officer)

And I think that’s the only way we can tell our stories, because nobody can argue
our own personal stories and experiences, and I find that very effective. They listen
and then how can they argue? (Kateia KeiKei, PCP outreach officer)

The members of the PCP therefore felt that the Pacific Islands provided an
opportunity for the world to look into the future and see where climate change
could take the planet in an effort to stimulate action. Thus PCP participants
recognized the value of telling the stories of Kiribati in the context of “proof” of

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climate change, yet they were also concerned that their intrinsic value as a nation,
culture, and community should be recognized. They drew attention to the fact that
the canary in the coalmine dies before the miners are alerted to the problem and were
concerned that casting SIDS as proof of climate change undermined their
fundamental right to exist and to continue to exist:

The greater challenge is those who aren’t denialists, who are believers, but are
pragmatists and want to say, “Well, we’ll just pack up those people and take them
somewhere else.” […] there’s a deeper challenge in allowing the people of Kiribati
to be self-determining, in a place they’d like to be self-determining. (Phil
Glendenning, Director, Edmund Rice Centre)

The key challenge revealed by PCP responses to the “proof of climate change” frame
is to ensure that climate justice reporting can fully represent the human rights and
desire for self-determination of Pacific Islanders, rather than reducing their story to
its instrumental shock value for complacent wealthier nations.

Active change agents rather than “victims” of climate change

Many SIDS resist being labeled “victims” of climate change, recognizing the risk of
vulnerability being equated with helplessness or powerlessness (Kelman, 2010; Paton &
Fairbairn-Dunlop, 2010). In response to the “victims” of climate change frame,
people from Kiribati wish to actively participate in decision-making processes that
will determine their fate and act early rather than leaving it until crisis point when
control is often lost. In her presentation for the public workshop, Kateia KeiKei
opened with a focus on agency: “we are active/able agents doing the best we can to
adapt” superimposed over an image of an I-Kiribati constructing a sea wall. “Young
and old,” she explained “are seeking knowledge about the best ways to adapt. We are
agents of change advocating for better responses to climate change.” This “change
agents” frame was illustrated with examples of solar power projects being developed
in Kiribati and Tuvalu. Island communities such as Kiribati are dealing with a range
of issues related to climate change, including saltwater intrusion into groundwater
that threatens drinking water supplies and the ability of islanders to grow food crops.
They are also experiencing coastal erosion, prolonged drought, and the decline in
availability of seafood resources, which they link to warming water. The challenges
are compounding on preexisting challenges of over population and poverty and
causing health concerns among the Kiribati community.

Despite these profound challenges, Kiribati is responding by actively developing
and implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies such as mangrove planting,
installation of solar power, and lobbying developed nations on climate action. They
preferred to be seen as “people of hope” (Kateia KeiKei) rather than powerless or
helpless victims.

The members of the PCP made an important distinction in how they saw the role
of Australia in the fight to save Pacific Islands such as Kiribati. They made it clear in
the interviews and the workshop presentation that they were looking for assistance to

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manage the problem and develop their own adaptation and defense solutions not for
Australia to “be” the solution. The change agents frame positions Kiribati and
Australia as partners, rather than the hierarchical dependency relationship of charity
offered to “victims”:

We are trying to make our approach as almost like a teamwork, trying to have a
team work with the government, or with the people, the audience. (Maria Chi-
Fang, PCP outreach officer)

There was also a concern that being seen as victims would undermine the willingness
of developed countries to take decisive action on climate change, if they saw the
outcome as inevitable or the cause as hopeless:

but to say to people, “It’s not hopeless.” They don’t believe it’s hopeless. They
believe that they have a right to live on their island home and bring their children
up where their ancestors are buried, which is exactly what Australians want, and
things can be done about this. We can put the proper processes, adaptation and
mitigation in place, buy another fifty years. (Phil Glendenning, Director, Edmund
Rice Centre)

PCP responses to being framed as “victims” of climate change thus reveal another key
challenge for climate justice media reporting—to approach SIDS as partners in
negotiating climate change responses, rather than as victims in need of rescue by
more powerful countries.

“Migration with dignity” rather than climate change refugees

Farbotko and Lazrus (2012) argue that the “climate refugee” narrative not only
entrenches established power imbalances by depicting Pacific Island communities as
“victims” requiring salvation (with the focus often on the capacity of the host country
to respond rather than the welfare of the Islanders themselves), but it also fails to
acknowledge the historical and cultural importance of migration in the lives of
nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati. For many Pacific island communities migration
is already “ordinary practices of everyday life” (2012, p. 388) and does not in itself
represent a crisis for communities who maintain their culture and way of life across a
vast network of shifting localities around the globe. Rather the loss of sovereignty,
agency, and self-determination are key concerns related to the possibility of forced
migration—concerns which can be lost in debates over “refugee” intakes (Farbotko &
Lazrus, 2012).

Of all the media frames commonly used to depict Pacific Island people in
mainstream media, “climate refugees” was the frame rejected most vigorously by
participants. The PCP members interviewed both from Australia and Kiribati were
concerned that this terminology was inappropriate for this situation, as explained by
Jill Finnane:

(they said) “We don’t want to be refugees. We want a proper, structured, migration
program. We want to be educated so that we can come as contributing citizens …
we are not in fear of our government, or a war, or persecution. None of those

Climate Refugees or Migrants? 13

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things are happening. The very country that we want to go to is the one that is
causing the problem in the first place!” … we kept making an issue of it because it
was such an emotional, really important thing to people from Kiribati and Tuvalu
and other Pacific Islands. (Jill Finnane, Eco Justice co-ordinator, PCP)

Indeed, the term “climate refugees” is critiqued by some experts in the field of
international refugee law, such as Jane McAdam who argues that “the governments of
Kiribati or Tuvalu are not persecuting their people … the terminology is completely
wrong” (Hannan, 2011). Francois Gemenne has found resistance to the term “climate
refugees” in a diverse range of contexts, including among survivors of Hurricane
Katrina in the southern USA (Gemenne, 2010).

PCP advocates highlight that the people of Kiribati want to stay in their
homelands. If circumstances dictate otherwise the I-Kiribati people would prefer
any necessary relocation to be managed in a dignified, well-planned, and orderly
manner—which includes gaining employment and being an active part of the
community to which they relocate. As Kateia KeiKei explained to the UOW public
workshop, “relocation is an option of last resort. We want ‘migration with dignity.’”
KeiKei underscored her argument with reference to a classic Getty Images photo
captioned “rising sea levels are threatening the culture and continuity of the Kiribati
people, forcing them to relocate” and depicting a small speed boat carrying a dozen
Islanders. In response Kei Kei argued, “I don’t want to be portrayed in this way. The
people of Kiribati and other Pacific islands will never be forced to leave their
countries. Offshore relocation is not happening right now. It will be the last resort. It
isn’t what we want.”

Interviewees felt an important distinction between refugees and climate change
migration was that climate change was predictable and preventable and steps can be
taken now to avoid it, which is not always the case in instances of war and
persecution that force people to flee their countries with little or no notice. They also
felt that if the worst-case scenario eventuated, and islands like Kiribati became
uninhabitable, migration could be planned for well in advance to ensure the islanders
made a smooth transition into their new countries:

The Kiribati government is trying to educate the young people of Kiribati, so that if
they move out, or if they are forced to move out because of climate change, at least
they have the skills to share in their second home. (Maria Chi-Fang, PCP outreach
officer)

Here again, PCP responses to media framing of “climate refugees” present a challenge
for climate justice media representations. The challenge is to represent the agency and
aspirations of those at the forefront of climate change impacts.

Challenges for Climate Justice Media

Just as Lakoff argues that it matters how we frame the environment and global
warming (2010), advocates for SIDS suggest that it matters how we frame climate
change impacts and the people most affected. In responding to the dominant climate

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justice media frames and suggesting alternatives, people working with PCP highlight
a number of challenges for media to amplify the voices of those most affected.
Unsurprisingly, the relatively low level of climate justice framing in the Australian
media remains a key challenge for PCP. Perhaps more surprising is the persistent
challenge of responding to climate change skepticism in Australian media coverage.
Most significantly, the media intervention work of the PCP has developed critiques of
even the limited coverage of climate justice in mainstream media. Each of these three
challenges is discussed in turn.

While PCP has been established since 2006 they have a relatively low media
profile. A Factiva search between 2006 and 2012 resulted in 35 responses (excluding
duplicates and reports of less than one line), of which about a third (12) occurred
during 2011, meaning prior to 2011 the organization featured on average
approximately four times per year. In 2011 the media exposure of the PCP increased
considerably when they became involved in the development of a documentary on
the impacts of climate change in Kiribati, “The Hungry Tide” directed by well-known
filmmaker Tom Zubrycki. Since that time media coverage has remained relatively low
(seven reports in 2012–2013) in Australia, and overseas. While the number of reports
on the work of the PCP has not increased significantly over time the more recent
articles have tended to be more detailed and inclusive of the preferred PCP media
frames. Content analysis of the articles from 2010 to 2013 indicates that the PCP has
had some success in shifting the emphasis of news articles in which they feature
toward their preferred frames (Table 1). However, there remains clear interest in the
reports examined to continue to frame the voices of the Pacific as “victims” or
“proof” of climate change.

Despite the PCP’s continuing efforts and savvy strategizing, their preferred
climate justice frames remain marginal at best in mainstream Australian media.
Indeed, while the PCP seeks to amplify the unheard voices of climate change impacts,
highly vocal climate skeptics remain one of the most significant challenges for the
organization, and for the I-Kiribati spokespeople in particular. During the interviews
Maria Chi-Fang recounted a recent experience at a community presentation by
climate change scientists. In the Q&A session after the presentation Maria rose to
speak of the challenges her country was facing and to ask a question of the scientists:

Table 1. Occurrence of key media frames in articles or radio transcripts featuring the work or
representatives of the PCP (January 2010 to July 2013).

Dominant frames Preferred frames

Proof of climate
change Victims Refugee

Right to
exist Agents Migration

Number of
articles/
transcripts
in which media
frame occurred

7 3 1 6 5 2

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there are so many skeptics and they were, like, booing and “Oh, another lie, another
story, Oh, we’ve heard that before.” I was very, very angry and very frustrated and I
was just sitting there in tears. If only those people could come to my country or—
not just Kiribati, but to other developing countries, very poor countries, and low-
lying countries, they will know that climate change is real. (Maria Chi-Fang, PCP
outreach officer)

This quote again demonstrates the conflicted position in which PCP activists find
themselves—where “proving” the reality of climate change is a barrier to meaningful
discussions about avoidance or mitigation responses, a barrier that frequently
requires them to offer themselves as evidence to a doubting public. PCP staff and
volunteers are keenly aware of the emotional toll on I-Kiribati who are constantly
questioned by climate change skeptics at public events and in the media. Rather than
setting the agenda and framing the issue, in many cases PCP spokespeople are asked
to respond to a media agenda in which they feel uncomfortable and vulnerable to
attack. The on-going debate around climate science means that I-Kiribati and their
representatives can be questioned on the intricacies of scientific debates and evidence,
or the “facts” around rising sea levels and temperatures, salinity, and predictions. One
example of this can be found in the online responses of readers to a news article
published in the local newspaper Illawarra Mercury in relation to the PCP event at
UOW. These responses were dominated by skepticism about the reality of climate
change and included a comment from one reader, “So the world changes and we are
condemned for not giving them money? Go home” (Wachsmuth, 2012). These
comments indicate the animosity of the debates over climate change and the extent of
the challenge for shifting climate justice frames.

Most significantly, the preferred climate justice media frames put forward by PCP
advocates reveal challenges for the small amount of media coverage which does
address climate change as a humanitarian or social justice concern, as advocated by
Doyle (2011). Many Pacific Islanders are highly critical of media frames which focus
on humanitarian impacts of climate change, yet do so via framing which positions
SIDS as “victims” or “proof” of climate change and potential “climate change
refugees.” While media attention to the human costs of climate change impacts is
indeed a vital corrective to the more usual separation of humans and the
environment (Doyle, 2011), PCP advocates argue that climate justice media must
fully represent the agency and aspirations of those at the forefront of climate change
impacts. This entails foregrounding the intrinsic human rights and desire for self-
determination of Pacific Islanders, and engaging with SIDS as partners in negotiation,
rather than framing them as helpless or hopeless victims.

Conclusion

The media advocacy work of PCP identifies “missing” or underutilized frames for
media reporting of climate change impacts. These preferred frames focus on key
concepts of human rights and the people of SIDS as active “change agents”
developing climate change response strategies including “migration with dignity.”

16 T. Dreher and M. Voyer

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Our research suggests that while climate justice framing is rare in Australian media
coverage of climate change, these climate justice framings advocated by SIDS
themselves are rarer still. As climate change remains the focus of on-going media
attention, the challenge put forward by former UN Human Rights Commissioner
Mary Robinson remains largely unanswered. In order to “amplify the voices of those
affected most severely by climate change,” the dominant media frames of environ-
ment and politics must be shifted to accommodate climate justice frames as well. The
work of the PCP foregrounds a further challenge: to develop climate justice frames
that highlight the agency and dignity of Pacific Islanders addressing climate change
impacts.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the expertise of the Pacific Calling Partnership in
contributing to this research, in particular to the insights and generosity of Maria Chi-Fang and Jill
Finnane. This research was supported by a UOW Faculty of Arts Small Grant 2012.

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• Abstract

News Frames and Climate Change Impacts

Framing climate change

Climate Justice and the Media

Research Approach and Methods

Dominant Media Frames

SIDS as ”proof” of climate change

SIDS as ”victims” of climate change

SIDS citizens as climate change ”refugees”

SIDS as travel destinations

Responding to Media Frames

PCP Preferred Frames for Media and Climate Justice

Human rights rather than instrumental ”proof” of climate change

Active change agents rather than ”victims” of climate change

”Migration with dignity” rather than climate change refugees

Challenges for Climate Justice Media

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

References