The use of religious metaphors by UK newspapers to describe and denigrate climate change

Woods, R; Fernandez, A; Coen, S

Abstract

British newspapers have denigrated anthropogenic climate change by misrepresenting scientific consensus and/or framing climate change within unsympathetic discourses. One aspect of the latter that has not been studied is the use of metaphor to disparage climate change science and proponents. This article analyses 122 British newspaper articles published using a religious metaphor between summer 2003 and 2008. Most were critical of climate change, especially articles in conservative newspapers The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Times. Articles used religion as a source of metaphor to denigrate climate change in two ways: (1) undermining its scientific status by presenting it as irrational faith-based religion, and proponents as religious extremists intolerant of criticism; (2) mocking climate change using notions of sin, e.g. describing ‘green’ behaviours as atonement or sacrifice. We argue that the religious metaphor damages constructive debate by emphasizing morality and how climate change is discussed, and detracting attention from the content of scientific data and theories.

Citation

Woods, R., Fernandez, A., & Coen, S. The use of religious metaphors by UK newspapers to describe and denigrate climate change. Public Understanding of Science, 21(3), 323-339. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662510385061

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Deposit Date: Oct 31, 2012
• Journal: Public Understanding of Science
• Print ISSN: 0963-6625
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 323-339
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662510385061
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963662510385061
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Published online before print November 26, 2010.