Exploring Media Representation of Carbon Capture and Storage: An Analysis of Japanese Newspaper Coverage in 1990-2010

This study explores how Japanese newspapers frame carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. We applied frame analysis with the basic content analysis of newspapers texts. The newspaper texts are analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The major newspapers in Japan portray CCS in very positive and technocratic framings. Specifically, the newspaper portrayals presuppose very optimistic technology development by trusted bureaucrats and industry experts, and promotes CCS as a promising technology fix for mitigating climate change. In other words, the discursive space of CCS newspaper coverage is filled with optimistic technocratic expectations for CCS. As a result, the potential risks of CCS such as environmental and health risks and the necessary governance structures of CCS to address such risks have been ignored, and civil society actors and the general public who have enormous interest in avoiding such risks have been marginalized in the newspaper coverage.