Media-constructed geographies

How US journalists narrate fjord systems in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)

Bibliographic Data

ID24218740
AuthorsM Carey (0009-0000-4545-8806, University of Oregon), Nicole Schaub (0009-0002-2742-8368, University of Oregon), Mira Cross (0009-0009-1804-3176, University of Oregon)
Year2026
Publication date2026-09-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/25148486261491832
OpenAlexW7214776630
LanguageEN
References cited54

International journalism increasingly covers issues in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), thereby producing geographical understandings and constructing environmental narratives about the landscape and residents. This paper provides a framework for analyzing these media-constructed geographies , which are important to expose because media stories influence public perceptions and can affect behavior and policymaking. In particular, the paper focuses on ways US news and journalism have represented fjords in Kalaallit Nunaat during the last two decades. The focus is on fjords because of their importance within and beyond Greenland, because most of Greenland's population lives along or near fjords, because fjords are underrepresented in research and media coverage (compared to the ice sheet, for example), and because fjords are increasingly sites of international interactions and human-bio-geophysical interconnections. This study's qualitative analysis of US media articles published from 2004–2024 shows how journalists construct fjord geographies with common assemblages of (1) features; (2) actors; and (3) embedded narratives that signal particular fjord roles, namely as scientific laboratories, adventure playgrounds, resource frontiers, and endangered landscapes. While timely to investigate US-Greenland interactions and international media representations of the Arctic, this research contributes more broadly by providing a new framework to decipher media-constructed geographies in any region, which is relevant for research in media studies and geographical investigations related to geographical etymology, multiple geographies, media geographies, and environmental narratives.

environmental narratives · fjords · Greenland · public perception · resource frontiers · science laboratories · Journalism and Media Studies · Media Discourse and Social Analysis · Media Studies and Communication

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