CHALLENGES JOURNALISTS FACE IN IDENTIFYING THE CULPRITS OF CLIMATE CRISIS: A CRITICAL SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS

<p>Abstract<br>Environmental degradation and climate change have consensually reached a tipping point but<br>mainstream media reporting remains ambiguous about the identification of main drivers of<br>these profound crises. This paper attempts to examine the challenges journalists can face in<br>reporting the actual culprits responsible for these crises, particularly those drivers that are<br>embedded in global supply chains and capitalist structures. Drawing on a critical framework<br>based on discourses analysis and political economy, this paper synthesizes corporate<br>disclosure and academic literature to point out how capitalist structural features, lack of<br>transparency and capitalist logic of profit accumulation obscure accountability. Findings<br>illustrate that journalists face practical barriers and methodological issues such as public<br>misconceptions, corporate power, fragmented regulatory regimes and limited access to data.<br>The paper concludes that journalistic efforts in identifying actual actors behind climate crises<br>will remain incomplete without adopting a broader perspective interrogating systemic roots<br>of these crises. Recommendations provide alternative investigative approaches for climate<br>coverage framing to highlight systemic accountability.<br>Keywords: Climate crisis, Capitalism, Journalism, Accountability, Global Supply Chains</p>