Uncharted territories : a Swiss media exploration of the underground, with emphasis on deep geothermal energy, cargo sous terrain, and carbon capture and storage
Creators: name: Roth, Livia
Publisher: name: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
Year: 2023
Subjects: 302.23: Medien
333: Bodenwirtschaft und Ressourcen

description: The underground is an unknown territory, gloomy and often addressed by fairy tales. However, not only fairy tales, but also the federal government's Energy Strategy 2050 deal with the underground. Emerging technologies such as deep geothermal energy or carbon capture and storage aim to fight the climate change. There are other technologies like the freight transport system ‘cargo sous terrain’ that will be built underground. These forms of use put the underground increasingly in the focus of politics. Society will also have to form an opinion as further regulations and laws are required to govern the use of the underground. This thesis aims to shed light on Swiss society’s attitude towards the different uses of the underground and show how media coverage might have changed over time.
While the use of the underground is of high relevance in Switzerland, a country nearly hollowed out by tunnels and bunkers, little research on the society’s attitude towards the use of its underground has been conducted. To assess the thematization of the underground and its use in Swiss media, a quantitative media analysis is executed. This thesis analyses Swiss media articles in German and English language over the period starting from 2011, the year of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, till 2023. To evaluate the society’s attitude towards future forms of use, an in-depth exploration is undertaken involving three emerging technologies. Articles focusing on cargo sous terrain, deep geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage are analysed qualitatively.
The results of this thesis indicate that media coverage of the use of the underground has increased since the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. However, the event and the resulting energy debate were not the only reasons for the increased media attention. In particular, the search for a potential site for a long-term nuclear waste repository has attracted interest. Additionally, deep geothermal energy has taken on a prominent role in media. The reporting can be considered generally to be neutral. Cargo sous terrain and carbon capture and storage have collected only little media attention. They are usually presented in a favourable light and thus enjoy support of the Swiss media. Furthermore, the underground ecosystem and other themes related to the underground are hardly discussed in Swiss media. Thus, the focus of the media discourse lays on the utilisation of the underground.
While media coverage has increased over the analysed period, the underground and the society’s attitude towards its use are a vastly unexplored field. This knowledge gap demands for more research which might also spark heightened media attention. If sustainable technologies are increasingly reliant on the underground, the society must be able to form an opinion about the use of the underground and what technologies should be used. Herby, the media takes on an important role in the formation of opinions.