Visual Framing Of Climate Change Coverage In "Solutions Journalism Network" (2013-2023)

Different from traditional reporting models of contemporary Western mainstream media,solutions journalism is a reporting style that does not simply render the subjects,offers solutions,and is potential to encourage audience engagement.This study took images of climate change coverage in Solutions Journalism Network(SJN,established in 2013)as the subject,and explored the visual frames of this type of reporting as well as its difference with traditional reporting models.This study collected 370 images of climate-change-related reports on this website between 2013 and 2023,and adopted a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods such as content analysis,hierarchical clustering analysis,and visual rhetorical analysis to address the following issues:1)themes of visual contents;2)major visual frames;3)visual rhetorical devices adopted to enhance communication effects.In this way,this paper tries to provide an insight for visual framing analysis in terms of methodology,as well as a reference for the visual reporting practice of solutions journalism in the levels of themes,features and methods.The study identified 118 themes of visual contents,and further took geographical information and humanizing information as the main focuses.It was found that in these visuals,developing countries were often juxtaposed with agriculture-related themes,while developed countries were represented with more diverse themes.Humanizing information made breakthroughs mainly in the portrayal of common people and women.For example,common people appeared more frequently than political figures,and were depicted as personalized,comprehensive and concrete individuals rather than one-dimensional victims.Women were presented as more diverse figures,and their efforts in climate change mitigation and adaptation were highlighted.In terms of visual framing,the study finally identified 17 major visual frames,which could be categorized as "solution perspective"(providing climate change solutions)and"problem perspective"(presenting climate problems).Among them,more than three quarters belong to the "solution perspective".In terms of visual rhetoric,this paper found that images in solutions journalism tended to use psychologically proximate images,adopt more oppositional visual-verbal relations,and articulate climate change with other important issues such as feminism.The aim was to convey relevant information and broaden the discourse of the issue in a more soothing way.Therefore,this thesis argues that visual solutions journalism is potential to rekindle people’s confidence in solving series of crisis brought by climate change and would be an ideal model to represent this issue as well as other issues sharing similar features.