Oil Sands and the Earth: Framing the Environmental Message in the Print News Media

The Alberta Government posted record budget surplusesin 2005 and 2006. Revenues were attained primarilythrough record non-renewable resource revenues. Oilsands development as the major economic driver ofAlberta?s economy and accounts for 62 per cent ofmajor projects. The processes used to develop andextract energy from the oil sands, mining and in-siturecovery, are also known to be the most harmful tothe environment with damage ranging from habitatdestruction, depletion of freshwater reserves and theproduction of large amounts of greenhouse gasemissions. Despite the known negative impact on theenvironment, record numbers of megaprojects and newlease agreements are being processed. Critical praxis theory and critical discourseanalysis methods are utilized to examine howstakeholders frame issues in the news media to createand shape public perception of the environmentalimpact of energy development in Alberta, Canada. This book aims to contribute to the field ofdiscourse analysis by gaining a deeper understandingof how discourse is used to argue and support anargument in the print news media.