International Journal of Research in Social Sciences

It is quite evident from many research studies since last decade that climate change is one of the most critical issues of 21st century (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007). Hence, media communication on climate change plays a significant role in public understanding and perception of climate change issues. In this scenario, media framing of climate change is increased to become one of the core areas of the research domain of Media Communication about Climate Change (MCCC). This study made an attempt to understand how leading English newspapers frame climate change in India. For this purpose, study adopted to follow the theoretical frame work of Shanto Iyengar's operationalization of media frames (1987). There are two distinctive frames in this model of media framing including; thematic framing and episodic framing. According to this frame work, study has analyzed the editorial contents of the four leading English newspapers including; Times of India, The Hindu, The Indian Express and Hindustan Times, appeared during the period Jan-Dec 2017. The selection of editorial content was done by using climate change indicators as key words (Temperature Rise, Unseasonal Rainfall, Ice/Glaciers Melting/Green House Gas, Flood and Frequency of Extreme Events: used as climate change indicators according to IPCC) from the electronic data base. Study has collected total of 47 editorials for analysis from the leading four English newspapers. This study came up with a major finding that newspapers’ editorial framing of climate change is largely taken place thematically rather than episode framing.