Dr James Painter
About
Dr James Painter is a research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University, and a senior teaching associate at the Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography, also at Oxford.
He has published widely on climate change in the media in several countries. His current research interests include biodiversity in the media, portrayals of extreme weather events, animal agriculture and climate change in the media, climate scepticism, and more widely on the challenges of climate journalism and the emergence of climate niche sites.
Dr Painter is a consultant to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) on communication issues, and has done similar work for IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), Oxfam, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), and other NGOs.
He has been a visiting professor at the IKMZ in the University of Zurich (2017-8), at the University of Navarra in Pamplona (2018), and at the University of Perugia (2018 and 2022).
Expertise
- Media and climate change around the world
- Climate change communication
- Climate scepticism
- Media and extreme weather events
- Animal agriculture, meat and climate change in the media
- Climate journalism
- IPCC and communication
- Biodiversity loss in the media
Selected publications
- What do Consumers Read About Meat? An Analysis of Media Representations of the Meat-environment Relationship Found in Popular Online News Sites in the UK. Environmental Communication, Mroz G & James Painter (2022)
- Is it climate change? Coverage by online news sites of the 2019 European summer heatwaves in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. Climatic Change 169, 4. Painter, J., Ettinger, J., Doutreix, MN. et al. (2021)
- Climate journalism in a changing media ecosystem: Assessing the production of climate change-related news around the world. Wires, Schäfer M and Painter J (2021)
- Animal Agriculture and Climate Change in the US and UK Elite Media: Volume, Responsibilities, Causes and Solutions. Environmental Communication, Kristiansen S., Painter J., Shea M. (2020)
- The coverage of cultured meat in the US and UK traditional media, 2013-2019: drivers, sources, and competing narratives. Painter J., Brennen JS., and Kristiansen S. (2020)
- How ‘Digital-born’ media cover climate change in comparison to legacy media: A case study of the COP 21 summit in Paris. Global Environmental Change, January, (48), 1-10. Painter J., Kristiansen S., and Schafer M. (2018)
- Climate Skepticism in British Newspapers, 2007–2011. Environmental Communication, 10:4, 432-452. Painter J., and Gavin, N. (2016)
- Cross-national comparison of the presence of climate scepticism in the print media in six countries, 2007-10. Environmental Research Letters, 7(4), 1-8. Painter, J. and Ashe, T. (2012)
Media experience
Dr James Painter has published widely on climate change in the media in several countries. He worked for the BBC World Service for several years, before becoming head of the journalism fellowship programme at the Reuters Institute from 2008 to 2017.
Recent media work
Languages
English, Spanish