Browsing by Subject "framing"

In this paper, I examine the discussions around the concept of carbon sinks. From those discussion of Finnish forestry, I identify frames based on a media material of 108 news articles combining the methodologies of frame analysis and content analysis. I aim to contextualize the carbon sink discussions of the latter half of 2010s and examine how the natural science-based term is used to support varying policy agendas. Building from background literature on the media as a societal actor and a context around Finnish forest discussions and mismatches between science and forest policy, I reflect on the ways that Finnish media frames and contextualizes carbon sink-related forest discussions. Eventually, I identify three dominant and eight secondary frames that describe the ways of using and the transforming of carbon sink as a term in detail. The dominant frames divide the discussion into two clashing ways to communicate carbon sink issues and a third middle ground way of understanding and using the term. The middle ground frame identifies the conflict between the clashing frames and suggests reaching to an understanding as a priority goal in terms of optimal climate change policy. I discuss the results in terms of the frames' policy implications. In addition, I ask how they signal potential developments in forest and climate policy and discourse. The analysis shows that the clearest disagreements in the carbon sink conflicts raise from how forestry restricting policies are seen to affect carbon sink levels and how prominent a role should forest industry have in meeting national and international climate policy targets. The study confirms that carbon sink as a term transforms into altering forms to support distinct, even controversial policy goals because of both definitional and calculative uncertainties.

The 2022 energy crisis heightened concerns about energy sufficiency. In response, Finland launched a nationwide energy-saving campaign, Astetta alemmas, to encourage Finns to take concrete and effortless energy-saving actions in their daily lives. The aim of this thesis was to analyze which energy-saving behaviors the media emphasize in the campaign and how the campaign messages are framed in the media. The analysis of media response was chosen because there is a lack of this type of study related to energy-saving campaigns. The data consisted of 94 news articles collected from the five national online news media from October 1st to December 31st, 2022. The data was analyzed using frame and content analysis. The analysis was based on a pre-determined theoretical framework consisting of nine energy-saving and general news frames: economic, social, environmental, personal, moral, health, conflict, responsibility, and human-interest frames. In addition, two new frames were recognized from the data. The energy-saving behaviors found were classified as curtailment and efficiency behaviors. The campaign was portrayed as an opportunity to save money through effortless energy-saving measures such as lowering the room temperature. Most of these actions were categorized as curtailment behaviors. The media showed the importance of individuals’ efforts to save energy in a society by emphasizing that saving energy has paid off and that new saving habits have become a routine part of daily life. On the other hand, energy-saving actions led to compromises in living standards, resulting in suffering and high electricity bills. The media portrayed the negative consequences by emphasizing conflicts and showing how far people are willing to go to save energy while risking their health. The impact on the environment was seen as a secondary principle. The crisis was a suitable moment for the media to highlight the importance of energy conservation. The campaign was well justified as a campaign of the whole nation, highlighted by solidarity and shared responsibility to save energy. Nevertheless, some of the tips given were targeted at specific households. The media raised a dichotomy by highlighting individuals as heroes or sufferers through their experiences. This is a novel contribution to previous studies. This dichotomy provides room for further studies that could focus on the people behind the news stories and the long-term effects of post-campaign energy-saving measures. This thesis provides initial insights into the media response to the Astetta alemmas campaign during the first three months and in specific news media, but the results cannot be generalized to the response of all news media during the campaign.