Producing a Green Digital Public Sphere? A Multimodal Analysis of Climate Change in Nigerian Digital Newspapers

This thesis examines the representation of climate change in Nigerian digital-born newspapers. It addresses gaps in environmental communication research, which has been text-based and focused on legacy media in the Global North. The study analysed seven years (2015-2021) of climate change coverage in four leading digital newspapers in Nigeria, with attention to both written and visual texts. The analysis revealed that coverage was largely driven by foreign events, with low levels of attention within Nigeria. The climate issue was framed in terms of action, effects, and causes, with institutional actors like Nigerian government officials, international organisations, citizens, and advocacy groups being the dominant claimsmakers. Most images in the coverage were sourced from unnamed visual sources, with people-themed images depicting citizens as those impacted by climate change. The study also identified threats to journalists’ personal security, lack of funds, difficulties in accessing needed information, the language of climate change communication, and low public understanding of environmental issues as problems confronting climate change journalism. The findings suggest a need for solutions-based thinking in climate change representations in Nigeria and highlight the role of visuals in shaping public understanding and action on climate change. The study contributes to the growing discourse on the climate change issue by putting the Nigerian context on the environmental communication research map.