Spinning climate change

Corporate and NGO public relations strategies in Canada and the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID12898613
AuthorsJosh Greenberg (0000-0003-3531-6550, Carleton University, corresponding author), Graham Knight (McMaster University), Elizabeth Westersund (Carleton University)
Year2011
Volume73
Issue1-2
Pages65-82
Publication date2011-01-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Communication Gazette (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-0485 • E-ISSN: 1748-0493
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1748048510386742
OpenAlexW2099722889
LanguageEN
Citations received41
References cited17

This article examines the role of PR in the debate about global climate change. Seeking to move beyond a focus on PR as just the handmaiden of corporate power, the article documents the fluid role of professionalized communication in terms of its impact on both corporate and NGO actors and their activities, focusing on communication tactics and the influence of PR consultancies. Drawing from the debates around the transformation of the public sphere, the article argues that the climate change issue illustrates not only structural change but also a wider cultural transformation marked by the emergence of promotionalism as the dominant communicative logic of both powerful and institutionally weaker players. It is argued that although existing political and economic resources provide certain actors with significant advantages, these assets and the structural advantages they tend to accrue cannot alone determine the outcome of struggles over climate change policy and public opinion

Climate change · Political economy · Political economy of climate change · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public relations · Public sphere · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Public Administration · Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub