How do politics, news media and the public frame the discourse on coal mining? Implications for the legitimacy, (de)stabilisation and transition of an industry regime

Gruenhagen, JH; Cox, S

How do politics, news media and the public frame the discourse on coal mining? Implications for the legitimacy, (de)stabilisation and transition of an industry regime

Gruenhagen, JH Cox, S

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Publisher:: Elsevier
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2025, 218, pp. 124217
Issue Date:: 2025-09

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Gruenhagen, JH
dc.contributor.author	Cox, S
dc.date.accessioned	2025-06-03T00:03:53Z
dc.date.available	2025-06-03T00:03:53Z
dc.date.issued	2025-09
dc.identifier.citation	Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2025, 218, pp. 124217
dc.identifier.issn	0040-1625
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/187596
dc.description.abstract	The use of coal for energy generation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, adversely affecting the climate and attempts to achieve net zero. Yet coal mining is also an important pillar of national economies such as Australia, provoking a contested discourse about the legitimacy of coal mining. We conceptualise the framing of coal mining as reflecting legitimacy pressures through discourse and agenda setting in the economic and socio-political environment that may lead to changes in industry regimes. We thereby examine how coal mining is framed within different arenas of discourse, and how this framing has changed over time. Specifically, we apply natural language processing and topic modelling to analyse and compare a large amount of text data capturing parliamentary documents and debates, news media reports and debates in the broader public over a period of more than 30 years. Our findings reveal that the discourse on coal mining among policymakers is dominated by economic framing, as opposed to a strong socio-political framing in the broader public. This suggests a mismatch between how coal mining is viewed by policymakers focussing on economic benefits versus parts of the broader public raising concerns over environmental and climate issues. Framing of the discourse in news media is more balanced. Our analysis demonstrates that the framing of coal mining has remained remarkably consistent, overall suggesting continuous legitimacy and a relatively stable industry regime.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Elsevier
dc.relation.ispartof	Technological Forecasting and Social Change
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124217
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	10 Technology, 14 Economics, 15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
dc.subject.classification	Science Studies
dc.subject.classification	35 Commerce, management, tourism and services
dc.subject.classification	38 Economics
dc.title	How do politics, news media and the public frame the discourse on coal mining? Implications for the legitimacy, (de)stabilisation and transition of an industry regime
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	218
utslib.for	10 Technology
utslib.for	14 Economics
utslib.for	15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Provost/TD School
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-06-03T00:03:51Z
pubs.publication-status	Accepted
pubs.volume	218

Abstract:

The use of coal for energy generation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, adversely affecting the climate and attempts to achieve net zero. Yet coal mining is also an important pillar of national economies such as Australia, provoking a contested discourse about the legitimacy of coal mining. We conceptualise the framing of coal mining as reflecting legitimacy pressures through discourse and agenda setting in the economic and socio-political environment that may lead to changes in industry regimes. We thereby examine how coal mining is framed within different arenas of discourse, and how this framing has changed over time. Specifically, we apply natural language processing and topic modelling to analyse and compare a large amount of text data capturing parliamentary documents and debates, news media reports and debates in the broader public over a period of more than 30 years. Our findings reveal that the discourse on coal mining among policymakers is dominated by economic framing, as opposed to a strong socio-political framing in the broader public. This suggests a mismatch between how coal mining is viewed by policymakers focussing on economic benefits versus parts of the broader public raising concerns over environmental and climate issues. Framing of the discourse in news media is more balanced. Our analysis demonstrates that the framing of coal mining has remained remarkably consistent, overall suggesting continuous legitimacy and a relatively stable industry regime.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/187596