Arctic Representation in Global Media

Abstract

The paper argues for a cultural perspective to be brought to the studies of media coverage of Arctic region in global media. Using a constructive approach to representations, the paper explores the discursive way of looking at media portrayal of the Arctic region. In the traditions of the school of cultural studies, media representations are understood as constructed and dynamic. They are constituted of media text which is seen in a broad sense: it includes the actual texts of the articles, the structural elements of the articles, illustrations. Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis has provided this study with some analytical tools for unravelling the meanings of the media representations. In addition to that, the quantitative content analysis of data was undertaken aiming to identify the most prominent contexts in which Arctic region is talked about. The empirical data contains 240 articles with any mentioning of Arctic. The data is collected from English versions of the websites of three global media - BBC, Al Jazeera, and RT, during one year. This study focuses on three main discourses found in the media. It concludes that, first, there are several presumptions about Arctic that circulate through all analysed media to some extent such as ‘Arctic is an attractive place for oil and gas companies’ or ‘Arctic is deeply affected by climate change’. Second, representations of Arctic region and the actors related to it differ from one medium to another: media approach these discussions from their own perspective, the representations can be biased. Third, all three media focus on specific aspects of the Arctic region, ignoring other aspects, such as the fact that there are people living in the Arctic who can be an active actor in decisions making regarding their home.