Climate Change Communication in Vietnam’s Online Newspapers and Its Implications for Climate Actions

Climate change has become a prominent global issue, garnering the attention of governments and their populations due to persuasive scientific evidence concerning its sources and effects. Despite the fact that a strong commitment to finding ways of reducing individual emissions is an important element for coping with climate change, initiatives to enhance public awareness of climate issues and engage them in climate activities seem to be overlooked. Individuals' reactions to climate change are influenced by their understanding of its causes, consequences, and implications, which are impacted by public communication on the subject. However, the public discourse on climate change is problematic due to insufficient comprehension and oversimplification. There is also widespread debate regarding the causes and implications of climate change. Moreover, there is a scarcity of published literature on climate change communication in developing countries. To address these information gaps and current discussions, an analysis was performed on 397 articles from Vietnamese online newspapers. The research employed content analysis and framing to examine the communication of climate change to the public in Vietnam over the last two decades. The findings indicated an anthropocentric framing of climate change, highlighting institutional solutions and rendering a psychological distance for the general public. Moreover, the pervasive propaganda advocating for eco-friendly solutions and methods may generate an optimistic perception that this issue can be resolved without altering individual habits.