“We thought we had more time”: An examination of climate and extreme weather framing in regional online newspapers in Aotearoa

Abstract

Climate change poses growing risks to health and wellbeing, yet public engagement with these challenges depends heavily on how they are communicated. News publications play a key role in shaping public understanding of climate-related risks and responses, with regional news outlets especially well placed to inform their audiences with locally relevant and contextualised coverage.

While national-level media studies in Aotearoa have examined climate and health coverage, little is known about how regional newspapers frame these issues, especially before and after locally experienced extreme weather events. The underrepresentation of Indigenous perspectives and limited coverage of health-related impacts further highlights the need for research into whose voices are prioritised in regional reporting.

This thesis examines how three regional online newspapers in Aotearoa New Zealand frame climate change, extreme weather, their relationship to health. The Waikato, Bay of Plenty, and Te Tairāwhiti/Gisborne regions were selected for their exposure to Cyclone Gabrielle, their diverse population compositions including significant Māori communities, and the presence of active regional online news publications. Drawing on a constructivist epistemology and community psychology principles of social justice, collective resilience, and ecological systems thinking, this research employs reflexive thematic analysis to inductively code and analyse media coverage spanning one year before and one year after Cyclone Gabrielle. The analysis identified narrative framing and underlying themes in how climate and health risks were communicated to local audiences by the selected regional online newspapers.

Findings reveal patterns in media framing that shaped whether climate change was portrayed as an immediate, localised concern or a distant, abstract issue, as well as disparities in whose voices, experiences, and knowledge systems were included. Themes emerged around political accountability, community resilience, and structural vulnerability, though coverage varied in depth and equity. Indigenous perspectives remained underrepresented, and economic and infrastructure concerns overshadowed impacts on health and wellbeing. However, examples of inclusive and locally grounded reporting demonstrated the potential for regional media to support more equitable climate communication and adaptation.

Findings were interpreted using a holistic analytical lens informed by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and the Social Determinants of Health framework. This approach illustrated significant implications for community engagement in climate discourse. The dominance of elite and institutional perspectives over grassroots experiences limits the visibility of community-driven adaptation efforts and obscures structural drivers of vulnerability, such as housing insecurity, economic inequality, and historical injustices rooted in colonialism. By excluding structural and health-related dimensions in climate discourse, regional newspapers risk unintentionally reinforcing inequities and limiting opportunities for collective action by marginalising those most affected. To support collective resilience regional media must move towards more consistent, health-focused, and community-led coverage, amplifying underrepresented voices and addressing the broader structural determinants of vulnerability to climate impacts.

This study contributes to climate communication research by centring regional media and offers practical insights for journalists, policymakers, and community advocates seeking to foster more just, inclusive, and community-responsive climate discourse in Aotearoa.