Re-presenting the rural in the UK press: an exploration of the construction, contestation and negotiation of media discourses on the rural within post-carbon energy transitions

Abstract

Governments worldwide are promoting the deployment of low-carbon energy generation and associated infrastructures, such as wind farms and high voltage power lines. These are mainly large-scale and built in rural areas, where more space and resources are available. When specific infrastructures are constructed in rural places, opposition is often found, namely from the local communities living nearby, revealing how energy transitions create socio-spatial justice conflicts. Social sciences' research on energy transitions and rural studies have been increasingly highlighting how diverse imaginaries of the rural are mobilized in siting disputes, by community members and developers alike, either to contest the deployment of energy infrastructures or to promote them. However, an examination of the role of the media - an important actor reflecting and shaping public opinion - in re-presenting the rural in relation to energy transitions has been largely overlooked so far. This paper analyses UK newspapers’ (Guardian, Times, Sun) discourses on the rural within post-carbon energy transitions, in the period from 2008 (pre-Renewables Directive 2009) to 2014. Based on these analyses, the role of new energy landscapes in (re-)interpretations of rurality and the role of these in post-carbon energy transitions will be discussed.