THE DANISH DEBATE
Among the extensive network of actors debating Hydraulic Fracturing we find the small-scale Danish debate. In the example below we have tried to extract what kind of words are used within Denmark - specifically we have compared words used between the French oil and gas company TOTAL E&P operating in Denmark, and the anti-shale gas organization, Skifergasnejtak.dk. These two actors are the most local actors who both have hands-on engagement with hydraulic fracturing in Denmark. Both actors, according to their websites, debate some of the consequences and effects of hydraulic fracturing.
Click the button "click to interact" in the upper left corner in the field below and feel free to browse through the words. Hover over some of the words in order to see the context of the words used. Alternatively use the search field for different words. For example hover over words such as: "forurening"(pollution), "forgiftet"(poisoned), "forsvarlig"(responsible), "drikkevand"(drinking water/ tap water), "økonomisk"(economic), "jobs"(jobs), etc. also, remarkably the word "fracking" is only used by Skifergasnejtak.dk and words associated with economic growth, i.e. jobs, are only used by TOTAL. "hydraulisk frakturering" (hydraulic fracturing) is used by both sides which exemplifies the significance of the term hydraulic fracturing in the entire debate. This shows how actors formulate their positions quite differently and what they see as positives and negatives.
Click the button "click to interact" in the upper left corner in the field below and feel free to browse through the words. Hover over some of the words in order to see the context of the words used. Alternatively use the search field for different words. For example hover over words such as: "forurening"(pollution), "forgiftet"(poisoned), "forsvarlig"(responsible), "drikkevand"(drinking water/ tap water), "økonomisk"(economic), "jobs"(jobs), etc. also, remarkably the word "fracking" is only used by Skifergasnejtak.dk and words associated with economic growth, i.e. jobs, are only used by TOTAL. "hydraulisk frakturering" (hydraulic fracturing) is used by both sides which exemplifies the significance of the term hydraulic fracturing in the entire debate. This shows how actors formulate their positions quite differently and what they see as positives and negatives.
THE DANISH MASS-MEDIA ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
News and media coverage have been present, mainly in Nordjylland where the potential drillings might happen.The mass-media has tried to put into perspective the different public, commercial and scientific views on the matter, however, we have called our controversy "a-controversy-in-the-making", which also refers to the relative small amount of attention given to hydraulic fracturing in Denmark. For instance, when we searched the combined archive for danish media "infomedia.dk" for articles published during a ten year span on the subjects "shale gas" and "hydraulic fracturing", we only got results dating from 2009 and onwards. This indicate that media coverage has only recently developed.
Hydraulic Fracturing, it seems, have not yet reached full-blown public concern. Most of the experience from the practice of hydraulic fracturing comes from the USA, which can also be seen in some of the videos below.
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2012/06/07/180453.htm - The Danish minister and Climate and Energy, Martin Lidegaard (R), explains the reasons for the political authorization for experimental drillings in the region of Nordjylland. (July 7, 2012)
http://www.dr.dk/P1/P1Dokumentar/Udsendelser/2012/06/06132201.htm - Article and radio feed about "fracking" in Nordjylland. (June 7, 2012)
http://www.dr.dk/tv/se/21-soendag/21-soendag-25#!/ - TV-spot in "21 Søndag" aired August 19, 2012, on hydraulic fracturing in Nordjylland. The spot includes interviews from Skifergasnejtak.dk, TOTAL E&P and other relevant persons; scientists, activists, politicians etc. Fast-forward to about 23:55 min in order to view the spot. (August 19, 2012
Hydraulic Fracturing, it seems, have not yet reached full-blown public concern. Most of the experience from the practice of hydraulic fracturing comes from the USA, which can also be seen in some of the videos below.
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2012/06/07/180453.htm - The Danish minister and Climate and Energy, Martin Lidegaard (R), explains the reasons for the political authorization for experimental drillings in the region of Nordjylland. (July 7, 2012)
http://www.dr.dk/P1/P1Dokumentar/Udsendelser/2012/06/06132201.htm - Article and radio feed about "fracking" in Nordjylland. (June 7, 2012)
http://www.dr.dk/tv/se/21-soendag/21-soendag-25#!/ - TV-spot in "21 Søndag" aired August 19, 2012, on hydraulic fracturing in Nordjylland. The spot includes interviews from Skifergasnejtak.dk, TOTAL E&P and other relevant persons; scientists, activists, politicians etc. Fast-forward to about 23:55 min in order to view the spot. (August 19, 2012
Danish media on the subjects "shale gas" and "hydraulic fracturing" from 2009-2012
What we present in the following is a word-cloud and a word-tree derived from a data-set containing every article published in Danish media from 2009-2012, or about 250 A4 pages of written text, which is not a lot concerning that a keyword search on the word "climate change" results in 66.230 hits during the same period of time. None of the keyword searches related to this controversy resulted in articles from before 2009. So, Hydraulic Fracturing has only been making the news in Denmark for three years which is why it is safe to say that in Denmark, at least, hydraulic fracturing is a controversy in the making, a becoming public dispute, that journalists are digging in to, questioning and trying to bring to the attention of public and governmental actors. But what words and phrases do they use to describe what is at stake for the readers of their newspapers, and what can these descriptions tell us about the central aspects of a controversy in the eyes of journalists.
Look at the word-cloud below. it contains the fifty most commonly used words in articles about shale gas. Not surprisingly "shale gas" (skifergas) is big, but we´ve decided to keep it in the word-cloud because it is one of the few technical words, besides shale gas layer (skiferlag) and fracturing (frakturering). If you experiment with words in the word-tree below using words such as groundwater (grundvand) cemicals (kemikalier) hydraulic fracturing (hydraulisk frakturering) you can see in which context they are usually referred to.
In the word-cloud what stands out as the most interestingly is how Danish contextualize the Danish hydraulic fracturing controversy in a wider international context, referring mostly to US experiences, dilemma and projections, but also to other european countries like France, Poland and the EU. This indicated to us that we needed to move from our original vantage point, Denmark, to see the controversy as an established international network in which the Danish debate was playing but a minor part.
"Nordjylland" is represented among the fifty most used words, so the articles seem to focus on the to be drilling on Danish territory. A lot of words describe the economic advantages with words such as percentage and billions, but also seem to be interested in the environmental aspects of the drillings, using words such as water and cemicals.
Finally, two companies seems to be present in the danish context. Not surprisingly TOTAL who are to perform the drillings, but more interestingly Vestas seem to be a big actor. Vestas is Denmark leading company on wind energy systems, and perhaps (but tjeck for yourself) they are portrayed as possible losers.
Look at the word-cloud below. it contains the fifty most commonly used words in articles about shale gas. Not surprisingly "shale gas" (skifergas) is big, but we´ve decided to keep it in the word-cloud because it is one of the few technical words, besides shale gas layer (skiferlag) and fracturing (frakturering). If you experiment with words in the word-tree below using words such as groundwater (grundvand) cemicals (kemikalier) hydraulic fracturing (hydraulisk frakturering) you can see in which context they are usually referred to.
In the word-cloud what stands out as the most interestingly is how Danish contextualize the Danish hydraulic fracturing controversy in a wider international context, referring mostly to US experiences, dilemma and projections, but also to other european countries like France, Poland and the EU. This indicated to us that we needed to move from our original vantage point, Denmark, to see the controversy as an established international network in which the Danish debate was playing but a minor part.
"Nordjylland" is represented among the fifty most used words, so the articles seem to focus on the to be drilling on Danish territory. A lot of words describe the economic advantages with words such as percentage and billions, but also seem to be interested in the environmental aspects of the drillings, using words such as water and cemicals.
Finally, two companies seems to be present in the danish context. Not surprisingly TOTAL who are to perform the drillings, but more interestingly Vestas seem to be a big actor. Vestas is Denmark leading company on wind energy systems, and perhaps (but tjeck for yourself) they are portrayed as possible losers.
From this section we encourage you to make further explorations on the website. Our aim for this section has been to inform you on the Danish discussions around hydraulic fracturing and shale gas which brings us to the bigger picture. By clicking the button below we invite you to plunge into the bigger European context of this controversy by investigating the actors involved.