Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article examines news media coverage of the Nord Stream pipeline bombings in September 2022 in order to ascertain how the Baltic marine environment was represented in the discourse. Data was taken from five international news sources that represent the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. One month of linguistic and visual data was analyzed using the ecolinguistic framework (Stibbe, Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By, 2021) and four stories of erasure emerged from the data, including stories of complete erasure, partial erasure, and metaphorical erasure. All four stories were evaluated against a wartime ecological philosophy, and all four were determined to be destructive stories that communicated negative worldviews about the natural world. None of the news discourse addressed the devastating effects of the explosions for the Baltic marine inhabitants, including the acoustic impacts and the dispersion of toxic sediment from an already polluted seabed. Erasing the marine environment communicates the worldview that the environment is not important, and this is particularly damaging at a time when the natural world is already enduring unprecedented antrhopogenic abuse. The results of the study indicate that news coverage of war and conflict could benefit from the use of an ecological philosophy that illuminates the importance of the natural world alongside human social concerns.

Keywords

Baltic Sea ecolinguistics media and conflict Nord Stream Russia–Ukraine war war and ecology

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baltic Seabird Project (2024) About. Available at: http://www.balticseabird.com/about-2/ (accessed 3 February 2024).

Bednarek

Caple

(2017) The Discourse of News Values: How News Organizations Create Newsworthiness. Oxford University Press.

Belcher

Bigger

Neimark

, et al. (2019) Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war”: Logistics, geopolitical ecology, and the carbon boot-print of the US military. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 45(1): 65–80.

Bell

(1991) The Language of News Media. Blackwell.

Bennett

Roth

Klain

, et al. (2017) Conservation social science: Understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation. Biological Conservation 205: 93–108.

Bennhold

Sanger

(2022) Sabotaged Pipelines and a mystery: Who did it? (Was it Russia?). The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/world/europe/pipeline-sabotage-mystery-russia.html (accessed 31 August 2024).

Bloor

(2013) The Functional Analysis of English: A Hallidayan Approach. Routledge.

Boykoff

(2009) We speak for the trees: Media reporting on the environment. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 34: 431–457.

Carbaugh

(2001) ‘The Mountain’ and ‘The Project’: Dueling depictions of a natural environment. In: Fill

Muhlhausler

(eds) The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment. Continuum, pp.124–142.

10.

Cohen

(1963) The Press and Foreign Policy. Princeton University Press.

11.

D’Amato

Cecchi

Annesi-Maesano

, et al. (2018) News on climate change, air pollution, and allergic triggers of asthma. Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology 28(2): 91–97.

12.

Denmark Confirms (2022) Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/18/denmark-confirms-extensive-damage-in-nord-stream-pipelines (accessed 5 September 2024).

13.

Dryzek

Norgaard

Schlosberg

(2011) Climate change and society: Approaches and responses. In: Dryzek

Norgaard

Schlosberg

(eds) The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press, pp.3–17.

14.

Entman

(1993) Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication 43(4): 51–58.

15.

Fraser

(2022) Navy steps up North Sea energy patrols. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-63152268 (accessed 31 August 2024).

16.

Garric

(2022) Leaks in Nord Stream gas pipelines create risk of ‘climate bomb’. Le Monde Diplomatique. Available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/09/29/leaks-in-nord-stream-gas-pipelines-create-risk-of-climate-bomb_5998552_4.html#:~:text=The%20leak%20into%20the%20atmosphere,experts%20ffearin%20an%20’environmental%20disaster (accessed 31 August 2024).

17.

Govoni

West

Settle

, et al. (2008) Effects of underwater explosions on larval fish: Implications for a coastal engineering project. Journal of Coastal Research 24(2B): 228–233.

18.

Halliday

MAK

(1978) Language as a Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning. Hodder Arnold.

19.

Halliday

MAK

(2001) New ways of meaning: The challenge to applied linguistics. In: Fill

Muhlhausler

(eds) The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment. Continuum, pp.175–202.

20.

Hansen

Cox

(2023) Introduction to the second edition of the handbook of environment and communication. In: Hansen

Cox

(eds) The Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication. Routledge, pp.1–10.

21.

Harre

Brockmeier

Muhlhausler

(1998) Greenspeak: A Study of Environmental Discourse. Sage.

22.

Hase

Mahl

Schafer

, et al. (2021) Climate change in news media across the globe: An automated analysis of issue attention and themes in climate change coverage in 10 countries (2006–2018). Global Environmental Change 70: 102353.

23.

HELCOM (2024) Fisheries: Basic facts. Available at: https://helcom.fi/action-areas/fisheries/basic-facts/ (accessed 3 February 2024).

24.

Josephs

(2022) US suggests Russia could be behind Nord Stream gas leaks. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63084613 (accessed 31 August 2024).

25.

Kress

Van Leeuwen

(2021) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, 3rd edn. Routledge.

26.

Lawrence

Stemberger

HLJ

Zolderdo

, et al. (2015) The effects of modern war and military activities on biodiversity and the environment. Environmental Reviews 23(4): 443–460.

27.

Ledin

Machin

(2018) Doing Visual Analysis: From Theory to Practice. SAGE.

28.

Machin

Mayr

(2012) How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. SAGE.

29.

Maser

Strehse

(2021) “Don’t Blast”: Blast-in-place (BiP) operations of dumped World War munitions in the oceans significantly increase hazards to the environment and the human seafood consumer. Archives of Toxicology 94: 1941–1953.

30.

McCombs

Shaw

(1972) The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly 36(2): 176–187.

31.

Moore

(2014) That could be me: Identity and identification in discourses about food, meat, and animal welfare. Linguistics and the Human Sciences 9(1): 59–93.

32.

Naess

(1995) The shallow and the deep, long-range ecology movement: A summary. In: Drengson

Inoue

(eds) The Deep Ecology Movement: An Introductory Anthology. North Atlantic Books, pp.3–9.

33.

Nord Stream 1: How Russia is Cutting Gas Supplies to Europe (2022) BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60131520

34.

Poole

(2023) Corpus-Assisted Ecolinguistics. Bloomsbury Publishing.

35.

Potter

(1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. SAGE.

36.

Priest

(2021) Mapping media’s role in environmental thought and action. In: Hansen

Cox

(eds) The Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication, 2nd edn. Routledge, pp.367–378.

37.

Ramondt

Ramirez

(2020) Media reporting on air pollution: Health risk and precautionary measures in national and regional newspapers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(18): 6516.

38.

Russell

(2001) War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring. Cambridge University Press.

39.

Sabotage suspected (2022) Le Monde. Available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/europe/article/2022/09/27/sabotage-suspected-over-leaks-in-nord-stream-gas-pipelines_5998330_143.html (accessed 31 August 2024).

40.

Sachsman

(2000) The role of mass media in shaping perceptions and awareness of environmental issues. In: Scott

Jones

, et al. (eds) Climate Change Communication Proceedings of an International Conference, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 22–24 June, pp.A2.1–A2.7. Climate Change Action Fund, Government of Canada.

41.

Sanderson

Czub

Jakacki

, et al. (2023) Environmental impact of the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines. Scientific Reports 13: 19923.

42.

Sanderson

(2023) Nord Stream pipeline blasts stirred up toxic sediment. Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nord-stream-pipeline-blasts-stirred-up-toxic-sediment/ (accessed 3 September 2024).

43.

Santora

Kramer

Nagourney

(2022) As Russians flee, some find draft notices waiting at the border. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-referendums.html (accessed 31 August 2024).

44.

Skuttnab-Kangas

Harmon

(2018) Biological diversity and language diversity: Parallels and differences. In: Fill

Penz

(eds) The Routledge Handbook of Ecolinguistics. Routledge, pp.11–25.

45.

Snoeijs-Leijonmalm

Andrén

(2017) Why is the Baltic Sea so special to live in? In: Snoeijs-Leijonmalm

Schubert

Radziejewska

(eds) Biological Oceanography of the Baltic Sea. Springer, pp.23–84.

46.

Sonne

Siebert

Gonnsen

, et al. (2020) Health effects from contaminant exposure in Baltic Sea birds and marine mammals: A review. Environmental International 139: 105725.

47.

Sorkin

Warner

Giang

, et al. (2022) ‘Act of Sabotage’ hits Europe’s energy and stocks markets. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/business/dealbook/sabotage-nordstream-europe-russia-gas-stocks.html (accessed 31 August 2024).

48.

Stibbe

(2012) Animals Erased: Reconnection with the Natural World. Wesleyan University Press.

49.

Stibbe

(2014) Ecolinguistics and erasure: Restoring the natural world to consciousness. In: Hart

Cap

(eds) Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies. Bloomsbury, pp.583–602.

50.

Stibbe

(2021) Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By, 2nd edn. Routledge.

51.

Stibbe

(2024) Econarrative: Ethics, Ecology and the Search for New Narratives to Live By. Bloomsbury.

52.

Stibbe

Alexander

(2014) From the analysis of ecological discourse to the ecological analysis of discourse. Language Sciences 41: 104–110.

53.

Thomas

(2022) Nord Stream: Sweden finds new link in Russian gas pipeline. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63071552 (accessed 31 August 2024).

54.

Trumbo

(1996) Constructing climate change: Claims and frames in US news coverage of an environmental issue. Public Understanding of Science 5(3): 269–283.

55.

UN Environment Programme (2024) Baltic Sea. Available at: https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/working-regional-seas/regional-seas-programmes/baltic-sea (accessed 3 February 2024).

56.

Van Leeuwen

(2005) Introducing Social Semiotics. Routledge.

57.

Van Leeuwen

(2008) Discourse and Practice: New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis. Oxford University Press.

58.

Virdis

(2022) Ecological Stylistics: Ecostylistic Approaches to Discourses of Nature, the Environment and Sustainability. Springer.

59.

WWF (2024) Baltic Ecoregion Programme. Available at: https://www.wwfbaltic.org/about/the-baltic (accessed 3 February 2024).

60.

Zhang

(2022) China voices concern over Nord Stream pipeline leaks. China Daily. Available at: https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202210/01/WS6337a44ea310fd2b29e7ac16.html#:~:text=%22We%20are%20seriously%20concerned%20about,to%20Nord%20Stream%20gas%20pipelines (accessed 31 August 2024).

Erasing the environment in news coverage of the Nord Stream bombings: An ecolinguistic analysis

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References