Zeitschrift für Geographie und Naturkatastrophen
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Media Coverage of the Black Saturday Bushfires (2009) and Discussion of Climate Change in Australia

Mohammad Ehsanul Kabir

This research examines what issues are presented in the Australian print media regarding the ongoing discussions of the anthropogenic climate change in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. It selected three Australian leading newspapers–The Age, The Australian and the Herald Sun. To analyze newspaper contents this study undertakes the mass media agenda setting as theoretical guideline. Findings argue that despite a minimum resistance to the concerns of the climate change issues in the wake of the bushfires, generally all of the three newspapers presented this issue within a broader ideological parameter of free market economy which avoids the sustained debates of the Australia’s emission of the greenhouse gasses and other social context of the country.