Energy transition in and by the local media: the case of the ‘Energytown Frederikshavn’

Whereas transition to renewable energy seems to be moving slowly in international fora, many local initiatives have been taken in that direction. One of these is the so called ‘Energytown Frederikshavn’ (EF), located in the northern part of Denmark, which has set the ambitious goal of C02-neutrality in 2015. The local media plays a crucial role in establishing and constructing the Energytown as a public issue. This paper investigates the local print media coverage of the Energytown and focuses on the ways in which citizen participation is represented and/or enabled. The methodological approach is a discourse analysis of the coverage over two years, which combines quantitative and qualitative analyses. Central questions in the analysis are: Which voices and players are represented in the coverage, with special regards to citizen voices? What are the main discourses and topoi employed in making sense of and telling stories about the Energytown, and how do they relate to ‘international’ discourses on sustainability and climate change? Which semiotic modes are used, and how do these contribute to the media construction of the EF? And how are national and international coverage of the EF (re)recontextualised in the local media?