(De)politicization of the environmental agenda in Russian media

Abstract

In the early 2020s, climate change and environmental challenges became increasingly important issues in the Russian political discourse. This was followed by growing media interest in environmental and climate reporting. This article explores how environmental journalists in Russian media outlets make sense of and discursively frame the environmental agenda. Based on in-depth interviews with environmental journalists working in the Russian media inside the country and in exile, we explore the role of the environmental agenda in a authoritarian regime such as Russia’s. The research reveals the forces shaping the environmental agenda and journalists’ perceptions of it. Drawing on theoretical perspectives on the politicization and depoliticization of the environmental debate, we explain how the prevailing forces shaping the environmental agenda lead to the depoliticization of environmental beats. As a result, some topics are treated as purely scientific problems that do not affect society or the state at large. On the other hand, regional environmental issues that do not affect state security issues allow for freer and more investigative reporting.