The political ecology of wildfire: Media and the politics of blame in the Evros wildfires in Greece

Abstract

Wildfires are not only natural disasters but also political events. Media plays an important role in the power-laden process of meaning-making and responsibility-assigning that can significantly shape how societies understand and response to wildfires. To shed light on the role of media in the political ecology of wildfire, we conducted a framing analysis of 241 news articles on the Evros wildfires in Greece. We discovered five narratives of blame: migrant activities, government mismanagement, climate change, arson, and war. We argued that the politics of blame in the Greek context is deeply intertwined with the rise of national populism and xenophobic attitudes as a response to the European refugee crisis. This is evidenced by a dominant narrative that blamed transnational migrants as culprits. The blame politics of wildfires in Greece is also shaped by the political economy of the media that enhances state control over media narratives.