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radio, television, print and Internet news stories drawn from nearly every country in the world. Its digital files contain roughly 4.2 million news stories from
January 1979 through December 2012 that permit us to trace coverage trends given to nearly 180 countries. All news items in the SWB corpus were either
published in English or translated into English by native speakers who are culturally resonant with the countries from which the news stories were drawn,
so that comparisons of news content can be carried out in English even though the original content may have been originally published in a wide range
of languages. News coverage in SWB represents countries roughly in proportion to their share of the global population (Althaus and Leetaru; Leetaru 2010).
We used named-entity-recognition in order to estimate about which country the story is about. We discovered seven distinct topical fields in global climate
change coverage since 1979 in five country groups which vary by vulnerability and contribution towards anthropogenic climate change: 1. legislation, 2.
China’s role in climate change, 3. Asian regionalism discourse, 4. military conflicts and security, 5. mitigation, 6. emissions and Kyoto Protocol and 7. natural
and energy resources.
PS 103
Characteristics of Science Coverage in Soviet Estonian Newspaper Rahva Hääl
A. Olesk
1
1
Tallinn University, Baltic Film- Media- Arts and Communication School, Tallinn, Estonia
In the Soviet system both science and press were seen as tools in service of the communist ideology. It has so far been little studied how the ideological
pressures affected science coverage in the media. Previous studies of science in Soviet media have mostly been issue-centred analyses with special atten‑
tion to propaganda, politics or policy. A more general characterization of science reporting has been scarce. At the same time, scientists and journalists in
Eastern Europe have expressed fond memories of the science coverage in the socialist era, contrasting it to the commerce-driven journalism of the 1990s
and early 20
th
century. In this way the Soviet era science reporting still influences the science coverage and perception of the role of science in society in
Eastern European countries today. This paper will look at the science coverage in Rahva Hääl (People’s Voice), the official voice of the Communist Party in
Estonia. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis this paper outlines the characteristic features of Soviet science news and explores the implications
of ideological control over science and journalism, taking Soviet Estonia as a sample case. Studies of Soviet media system indicate that based on the level
of political control and ideological canonization Rahva Hääl as the main Communist Party newspaper in local language was less strictly controlled and cen‑
sored than all-Union press. Science as a topic was at a lower level of official control compared with the coverage of ideological, political and history topics.
Methodologically, the study used 8 randomly constructed weeks from the years 1960 and 1980. The selected years represent the approximate high and low
points of intensity of science coverage on both sides of the Iron Curtain (Bauer et al. 2006). 14 coding categories were looked at with quantitative analysis.
8 longer articles were used for qualitative analysis. The results show that on average, the surveyed newspapers carried two science items per issue. Most
articles are short and uninformative. There is a strong domestic focus, the articles often lack a well-defined event which could be defined as the motivation
for publication. Comparing 1960 and 1980 we see a clear pattern of centralization and institutionalization. Articles on space exploration form a distinct part
of the coverage, with their own characteristic features. Qualitative analysis reveals that the articles actively engage in ideological construction; language is
used to prescribe the meanings of events; a multitude of voices is constructed to create coherence of the message. Science articles also engage in construct‑
ing the image of a model Soviet citizen: modest, diligent, dedicated and young. The primary role of the science is seen to be the creation of new products.
However, rather than writing articles about actual results, the items tend to portray work in progress. Science is not explained in the articles. The paper
shows that science in Rahva Hääl was subjected to a high level of control and canonization.
PS 104
Subject to Change. Differences in the Presentation of Climate Change in Local and National News Coverage
C. Oschatz
1
, M. Legrand
2
, A. Dittrich
3
1
University of Mainz, Institute for Communication Reseach, Mainz, Germany
2
University of Jena, Jena, Germany
3
Hanover University of Music- Drama and Media, Journalism and Communication Research, Hannover, Germany
Contemporary communication research has increasingly investigated the media coverage on global climate change as the media can influence recipients’
knowledge (Taddicken, 2013), attitudes and behaviors towards climate change (Howell, 2014). These studies usually apply national media with a wide
circulation that reach many people to answer their research questions. Regional media are hardly considered in samples (Liu, Vedlitz, & Alston, 2008).
However, regional news media are among the most important sources for climate change information for many citizens (Oschatz, Maurer, & Haßler, 2015).
Furthermore, it can be argued that the presentation of climate change in regional news media differs from the presentation in national media as regional
media can tailor their news coverage much more towards the interests and needs of their local recipients. Regional news media may focus on different
scientific aspects of climate change than national media. For example, different regions within a country are often affected by different consequences
of climate change. The specific regional consequences are more likely to be covered by regional media as they are more important to the local recipients.
Regional news media may as well focus on different political aspects of climate change. For example, national and international politics are mainly nego‑
tiating about international agreements to mitigate climate change which are usually addressed by national media (Arlt &Wolling, 2012). Regional media
may be more interested in possibilities to adapt to the local consequences of climate change that threaten local citizens. If this holds true, content analysis
considering regional news in their samples may arrive at different results on the media representation of climate change and draw different conclusions for
the impact on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the recipients. Therefore, this study examines the research question what are the similarities and
differences of regional and national news media representations of climate change.To answer the research question a content analysis of the news coverage
about the 20
th
UN climate conference in Lima was conducted in German regional and national newspapers (24.11.-21.12.2014). We analyzed two national
newspapers with wide circulation that are usually included in content analyses on climate change. As well, the news coverage of the widest reaching re‑
gional newspaper in every federal state in Germany has been analyzed and grouped into four different regions that are affected by different consequences