AbstractsCommunication

The issue-attention cycle model proposed by Downs (1972) was used in previous studies to explain the fluctuation of media attention to environmental issues. Most of those studies concentrated on U.S. media. This thesis examined the change of amount of the global warming coverage in the People's Daily and The New York Times from 1998 through 2007, aiming at finding out if the media coverage of environmental issues in China would follow Downs' (1972) model. It also content analyzed the frames and sources used in the global warming coverage in the two newspapers, in order to investigate into the extra-media influences on the issue-attention cycle. Results showed that while the coverage in The New York Times displayed a cyclical pattern during the 10 years under study, the coverage in the People's Daily did not show such a pattern at all. What is more, the use of frames and sources in the two newspapers were also found different. Possible reasons for the differences between the two newspapers' coverage were deliberated; implications of the differences were discussed in the thesis.