A study on the modality of climate news discourse: The case of the New York Times

This study investigates the role of modality in climate news discourse through a corpus-driven analysis of The New York Times climate-related articles from 1995 to 2024. By constructing a diachronic corpus, the research focuses on the modal verbs “ can ”, “ may ”, and “ must ” to explore how semantic modality interacts with contextual factors to shape discourse. The study reveals that deontic modality plays a significant role in highlighting urgency and authority, particularly in the context of global climate issues. The research also proposes a novel mechanism for understanding the generation of discourse modality and emphasizing the influence of strong contextual factors. This mechanism clarifies how modality in climate news contributes to climate governance. The findings show that The New York Times frequently employs deontic modality to advocate for climate action, reinforcing societal norms and obligations, and influencing both public and institutional responses. The study contributes to modality research by offering a fresh perspective on the intersection of language, media, and environmental communication, advancing our understanding of how language shapes climate governance. • A diachronic corpus of climate news from 1995 to 2024 is constructed. • Modal verb usage reflects shifts in climate governance discourse. • Deontic modality dominates institutional climate narratives. • Contextual factors shape semantic and discourse modality patterns. • A human–AI collaborative annotation framework is developed.