Climate change is one of the major environmental challenges of our time. Frequent extreme weather events, rising global temperatures and melting glaciers directly impact the quality and way of life of people, who also receive information about environmental changes through the media. This master's thesis addresses the floods in Slovenia in August 2023 as part of a broader scientific and environmental issue. The aim of the thesis is to determine how and to what extent the floods were reported in the daily news program 24UR during the first month after the natural disaster, who the journalistic sources were and how they addressed climate change. The theoretical part covers the impact of climate change on individuals and society, its presentation and role in the media throughout history, and the journalistic norms that influence the selection of journalistic sources. While the quantitative analysis of the reporting showed that the floods were the main topic in the program during the first month, with more than two-thirds of the available airtime dedicated to them, the content analysis revealed that the broader issue of the climate change was not addressed in detail. The sources only mentioned climate change in brief individual statements. The issue was neither explained nor linked to a broader environmental context, even though sources from various social statuses were included in the reporting. The findings also open up a broader discussion on the communication of science and complex topics in the media.
|
