Through the “Perfect Storm”: A Media Discourse Analysis of the 2018–2019 Menindee Fish Kills

Climate change is bringing more frequent and severe droughts in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). Yet water policy in the MDB has been criticized for not being rigorous enough on preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change. In the summer of 2018–2019, the death of over a million fish occurred on the Baaka/Darling River, attributed in part to extreme temperatures and low water levels due to drought. This was widely covered in Australian mainstream online news media. News media shapes how discourses around issues and events are constructed, in turn influencing public opinion and public policy. Crises like the “Menindee fish kills” present opportunities to create transformative change in policy and decision-making. This analysis of Australian written news coverage of the fish kills explores the role of the media in constructing the event in relation to water policy in the MDB, in particular with respect to climate change. We found that the coverage focused on backward-looking discourses of blame, constructing the fish kills as a standalone event without clear connection to climate change. Hence, the media did not fully realize its potential as a platform to enable meaningful discussion on difficult questions about the future of the MDB. KEY POLICY HIGHLIGHTS The “Menindee fish kills” were a galvanizing event that focused attention on water management and policy in in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin. Media coverage of the events centered around discourses of blame that heightened representation of the longstanding conflicts and avoided discussions of climate change. Our analysis highlights the power of the media to construct discourses, and their role in reinforcing the status quo by emphasizing divisive debates about water management and ascribing responsibility to the government to address the problems. We find that media representation of the Menindee fish kills was a missed opportunity to facilitate a more forward-looking conversation about shared responsibility for management of the Murray-Darling Basin in the context of climate change.