CLIMATE CHANGE, PUBLIC OPINION, AND MEDIA PRESENTATION: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC OPINION IN ROMANIA AND CHINA ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

Environmental communication is highlighted more in our everyday lives. From the Clean Power Plan, unveiled by Obama at the Climate Change Summit of Paris 2015, to Trump appointed as Climate Sceptic to the Marrakech Summit 2016, environmental communication is prevalent today. The presence of this issue in the political agenda, calls upon the attention of the media (traditional and social media). This paper shows how influential the Forth Power of a State is in the public opinion, how the State contributes to shaping it, and in which way it is possible to determine a certain social behavior. The paper focuses on European and Asian point of view and is based on the results obtained through the following two methods: a content analysis of the European Media news regarding the Climate Change during the one-year period of 2016 and a quantitative analysis of the questionnaires distributed in two different countries (Romania and China). The main research question that is presented in this paper is: How does the media deal with the environmental communication? Therefore, three main themes are explored. First, the way the media communicates with the public. Second, the length of time media has given to this issue. Third, the effect of the communication process on the European and Asian public opinion. The results demonstrated that there is a major need for the media to give space and importance to the environmental communication, and to regard carefully the way in which they do it. Due to the method of communication, this results in a major consequence of why the public opinion has shown to have almost a negative-neutral attitude regarding this issue. The media, as the mediator between the State and the public, regarding such an issue, failed. Therefore, it is relevant for the two Governments, institutions, such as European Union and NGOs, to know why the public opinion does not react and act, regarding this issue, in the way they expect.