Doctoral Dissertation Spinning Climate Change: How Social Groups use Media, Science, and PR to Engage the American Public

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation, funded by the Science and Society Program, will investigate the changing nature of public engagement in the U.S., specifically as it relates to media, the environment, scientific authority, and public relations. The study will focus specifically on four social groups who are seeking to inform the American public of the urgency and action needed regarding climate change: 1) the Inuit Circumpolar Conference which has worked closely with American environmental groups to bring a human rights claim before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding U.S. inaction on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, 2) the Evangelical Climate Initiative, comprised of loosely affiliated multi-denominational Christian groups that are attempting to mobilize American Christians based on combinations of moral and scientific imperatives, 3) efforts by Ceres, a non-profit network organization comprised of "environmentalists and investors," in conjunction with the Chicago Climate Exchange to expose and marshal corporate and industry responsibilities regarding the proactive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and 4) efforts by hurricane and climate scientists to intervene in public debate and the regulation of coastal development based on climate change-related predictions and research. Operating outside formal government or policy frameworks and the mainstream environmental movement, each of these groups is looking to "reframe" climate change by putting a human, legal, moral, financial, or scientific face on an issue that has, until very recently, languished at the bottom of environmental concerns despite mainstream media coverage since the 1980s. By mapping the terrain and intersections of these social groups, this study will offer insight into the communication of complex scientific and science-policy debates, revealing fractures in credibility, expertise, and authority for both science and mainstream media, as well as the presence of "spin" and public relations that has, from the perspective of many actors, acted to supplant "the facts of the matter." As such, this study provides a clear case study of the flexibility of environmental discourse, the evolving role of media change and fragmentation in making scientific issues public, and an account of the struggles within science to prevent science from being reduced to "spin" and public relations. This study will make an important contribution to Science and Technology Studies (STS), media studies, and anthropologies of media and science by bringing them into dialogue in novel ways. Doing so will offer crucial interdisciplinary insight into studies of media change, environmentalism, democratic engagement, and social movements. Climate change provides a rich conceptual site for understanding: a) how U.S. public debate is mediated, driven, and redirected, b) the changing nature of mainstream American media and its semi-autonomous role as a so-called fourth estate, c) the turn towards advocacy and/or authentication of facts by scientists and journalists, and d) the ubiquitous, pervasive presence of public relations that has spread from commercial sectors throughout civic life, enrolling social movements and governmental organizations. Thus, for journalists, scientists, policy-makers, and activists working on climate change and other complex science and science-policy debates, this study provides valuable insight into how and what shapes public engagement. NSF funding will enable continuing and completing a multi-sited investigation of these geographically dispersed social groups. It will be used primarily for travel and accommodation costs to conduct in-depth interviews with primary actors and spokespersons for the selected social groups.