Open AccessHOW ARE PUBLIC SPHERES TRANSNATIONAL? COMPARING NEWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS DURING THE MADRID CLIMATE TALKS
Author(s) -
Timothy Neff,
Dariusz Jemielniak
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12217
Subject(s) - public sphere , convention , negotiation , social media , political science , homogeneity (statistics) , dissent , united nations framework convention on climate change , media studies , political economy , public relations , sociology , law , politics , climate change , computer science , machine learning , ecology , biology , kyoto protocol
In this study, we explore two parallel but related networks ofdiscourse that arose during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) negotiations of 2019 in Madrid: one produced by news media coverage of the talks;the other by Twitter users who shared news content about the talks. As these networksdisseminated information about the UNFCCC’s 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25), we seethem as key channels of communication for a potentially transnational public sphere ofdialogue and dissent, even if the existence or efficacy of such a transnational sphere is amatter of great debate (Fraser, 2007). Our aim is to compare the internal (within network)and external (across networks) homogeneity and homogeneity of these two networks in terms ofstructure (e.g., language, geographic groups, etc.), dominant topics, and sentiments. Wefind that a potential for the emergence of transnational public spheres lies incontradictory currents of homogeneity and heterogeneity in transnational networks related to1) the social capital of certain actors; 2) institutional infrastructures such as U.N.processes; 3) media ownership structures; 4) different cultural practices.