Media Framing of Indian Green Fiscal Policy: A Survey of Environmental Policies Across Online News Portals

Title

Media Framing of Indian Green Fiscal Policy: A Survey of Environmental Policies Across Online News Portals

Creator

Boora S.; Karakunnel M.T.

Description

This research undertakes a framing analysis of news coverage from five leading Indian news portals, focusing on the environmental provisions of India's fiscal budgets for 2022-23 and 2023-24. These budgets marked a significant shift, being the first to prioritize "Energy Transition and Climate Action" and "Green Growth" as central themes. The analysis uncovers a spectrum of portrayals: from highlighting government initiatives and the potential economic windfalls of green policies to critical evaluations and concerns about their real-world implications. Specifically, the Times of India, with its 27 stories, leans heavily towards business and economic perspectives. The Hindu, through its five stories, both praises the government's green initiatives and critiques certain infrastructure projects. Hindustan Times offers a balanced view in its nine stories, juxtaposing government action plans against critiques of infrastructure spending. In contrast, The Scroll and The Wire, each with three stories, delve deeper, providing incisive, critical analyses of the government's environmental commitments. The study underscores that while independent news portals present nuanced insights, their narratives often stand in the shadow of mainstream portals that echo the government's perspective. Given the escalating global importance of environmental challenges, the findings strongly advocate for media outlets to establish dedicated environmental news sections. Such focused coverage could enhance public awareness and pressurize effective governmental action in the domain of green fiscal policies. 2023 by authors, all rights reserved.

Source

Environment and Ecology Research, Vol-11, No. 5, pp. 712-726.

Date

2023-01-01

Publisher

Horizon Research Publishing

Subject

Climate Action; Energy Transition; Environmental Policy; Framing Analysis; Indian Budgets; Media Coverage

Coverage

Boora S., Department of Media Studies, Christ University, India; Karakunnel M.T., Department of Media Studies, Christ University, India

Rights

All Open Access; Gold Open Access

Relation

ISSN: 2331625X

Format

Online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.13189/eer.2023.110502

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85172879122&doi=10.13189%2feer.2023.110502&partnerID=40&md5=623d3b4288007df28207e420b6427031