We look at the coverage of the COP21 climate change summit and its framing as a success by the mainstream media.
After years of fruitless negotiations, world leaders finally reached an agreement to combat climate change, agreeing to cap greenhouse gases in an effort to slow down global warming.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, or COP21, set a target of limiting carbon emissions and keep average temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius.
The deal, which brought the climate change issue back to the top of the news agenda, was hailed as a success by the mainstream media and self-congratulatory political leaders - who made it sound like a major milestone.
However, climate scientists and activists have since said the agreement has little cause for cheer, falling well short of what is needed to forestall a climate change catastrophe.
They say the deal lacks any legally binding mechanism to hold governments or corporations to emission quotas, while other key issues in the accord are not binding at all.
So why is the deal being framed as a success?
Talking us through the story are: Asad Rehman, a senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth; Catherine Happer, lecturer at the University of Glasgow; Atayi Babs, editor-in-chief at Climate Reporters; and James Painter, the director of the Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme.
After years of fruitless negotiations, world leaders finally reached an agreement to combat climate change, agreeing to cap greenhouse gases in an effort to slow down global warming.
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| Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth |
The deal, which brought the climate change issue back to the top of the news agenda, was hailed as a success by the mainstream media and self-congratulatory political leaders - who made it sound like a major milestone.
However, climate scientists and activists have since said the agreement has little cause for cheer, falling well short of what is needed to forestall a climate change catastrophe.
They say the deal lacks any legally binding mechanism to hold governments or corporations to emission quotas, while other key issues in the accord are not binding at all.
So why is the deal being framed as a success?
Talking us through the story are: Asad Rehman, a senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth; Catherine Happer, lecturer at the University of Glasgow; Atayi Babs, editor-in-chief at Climate Reporters; and James Painter, the director of the Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme.
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