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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Commun.

Sec. Science and Environmental Communication

Reporting on climate solutions in institutional, Indigenous, and climate-focused news outlets

Provisionally accepted
Jena Barchas-LichtensteinJena Barchas-Lichtenstein1John VoiklisJohn Voiklis1*Bennett AttawayBennett Attaway1Nicole LaMarcaNicole LaMarca1Rachel SawdyRachel Sawdy1Sky VasquezSky Vasquez2Patti ParsonPatti Parson3Jourdan Bennett-BegayeJourdan Bennett-Begaye2
  • 1Knology, New York, United States
  • 2ICT News, Phoenix, AZ, United States
  • 3PBS News, Arlington, VA, United States

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This study focuses on the portrayal of climate problems, climate solutions, and climate problem-solvers across several types of U.S. news outlets, with particular attention to representation of Indigenous peoples. We sample coverage of strategies to address climate change from institutional, climate-focused, and Indigenous-focused news outlets, and analyze how stories frame problems, solutions, and the people responsible for and affected by them. We find that climate-focused and institutional news coverage of climate solutions is broadly similar, but both differ significantly from Indigenous journalism. Indigenous journalism is more likely to present benefits of solutions (rather than only harms they aim to prevent), consider holistic solutions that address both adaptation and mitigation, identify victims of climate change, focus on Indigenous people in all roles, and highlight traditional knowledge. We close with discussion of how institutional news outlets might incorporate these perspectives to challenge their audiences' stereotyped knowledge around climate problems, solutions, and problem solvers.

Keywords: Climate Change, Journalism, Content Analysis, news media, Climate solutions

Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Barchas-Lichtenstein, Voiklis, Attaway, LaMarca, Sawdy, Vasquez, Parson and Bennett-Begaye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: John Voiklis

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material