Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-7-2018

Publication Title

Environmental Communication

Volume

13

Issue

1

First page number:

23

Last page number:

34

Abstract

This study uses a topical, rhetorical approach to analyze how climate change denial circulates online through the 25 most popular posts on the Watts Up With That and the Global Warming Policy Forum Facebook pages. These groups adopt the appearance of credibility through reposting and hyperlinking, thus establishing a supportive, networked space among other skeptical sites, while distancing readers from original sources of scientific information. Visitors use a variety of rhetorical strategies to echo posts’ main themes and to discredit alternative viewpoints. Differences between the topoi and rhetorical strategies of WUWT and the GWPF show that the climate change denial community is multifaceted and makes use of social media affordances to craft the appearance of legitimacy. This project contributes to our knowledge of how scientific information is co-opted, manipulated, and circulated in online spaces and how online features shape environmental discourse practices.

Keywords

Climate denial rhetoric; Rhetoric of science; Digital rhetoric; Social media; Networks

Disciplines

Climate | Communication

File Format

PDF

File Size

775 KB

Language

English

Permissions

“This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Environmental Communication on 2018-12-07, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17524032.2018.1527378.”

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