Climate Change the Narrative

The most recent Climate Science Special Report states that humans are “extremely likely” to have contributed to at least 92% of climate change since 1950s. This statistic and the report it came from should be a significant news story; however, it has fallen to the wayside in an increasingly Trump-saturated media agenda.

The way we view climate change is heavily dependent on the news we consume. News outlets have failed to adequately report on climate change; this needs to change because they hold an influential place in public discourse.

Pew Research’s latest examination of American news consumption reveals that 57% of Americans still get their news from television broadcasting. This means that the majority of Americans receive their news through local outlets (46%), cable channels (31%) or network news programs (30%) or some combination of the three platforms.

Local outlets are often partnered with larger networks, essentially making them part of the network news statistic, totaling their influence to 76% of the TV news population.

This fact is jarring when you consider two things. First, network coverage of climate change during their nightly news programs dropped 66% from 2015 to 2016. That is a huge, scary drop in coverage of an issue that threatens our entire planet and everybody on it. Second, those who watch local news are more likely to vote. This correlation is even more stunning when you realize that on a larger scale it exposes the highly influential nature of local news programs.

But why is this drop in coverage not bigger news? Why don’t more climate activists and journalists blow the whistle on such a blatant failure in coverage of a very important issue? Maybe because it isn’t seen as an issue worthy of discussion in the ratings driven industry of broadcast journalism.

ABC’s World News Tonight ran 5 climate change related segments in 2016. NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt ran 12 segments and CBS’s Evening News with Scott Pelley ran 19 stories in the same year. PBS ran the most climate change related segments on their program PBS News Hour with 46 stories in 2016.

PBS not only ran the most stories on climate change but they also had the most complete coverage in each of their reports. In the case of the government’s recently released Climate Special Report, PBS explained the report and its history and used full quotations from the report to give its claims context. They conducted a face to face interview with one of the authors of the report, in which they defined the term “extremely likely” in reference to humans influence on climate change, explained how the data lead to the conclusions in the report, allowed the author to talk about the political and economic implications of climate change, and got him to give examples of the effects of climate change.

On the flip side, CBS and ABC failed to even cover the report, and NBC did a story that seemed piecemeal in regard to climate change. NBC used partial quotations and only part of a skype interview with an author of the report; the author speaks extremely briefly and generally about climate change and is cut off before she can complete her statement. They use dramatic images of flooding, heat waves, and ice caps as they talk about the report for about a third of the segment.

However, there is some merit to NBC’s coverage. They use the report’s release as a platform to expose Trump’s administration for obstructing the gathering and dissemination of information regarding climate change. I found my mouth quite literally hanging open when NBC revealed that a “whistle-blower and scientist” in the Interior Department who had been working on climate change in Alaska was reassigned to the accounting department.

Although NBC uses some sensational tactics in the beginning of their segment, their use of the report as a jumping off point is a step in the right direction toward influential, beneficial, and informative coverage of climate change.

PBS’s and the latter half of NBC’s reports are the kinds of journalism to which people will give their attention. Too often, network news takes the “doomsday” approach when reporting on climate change. Yes, it is extremely important to understand the long-term effects of our actions, this is arguably the most important thing to understand; however, this narrative distances the issue from audiences. Viewers are less likely to pay attention to stories of this nature because they not only talk about large scales of time that one may not be involved in, but also add to the already saturated media space that doomsday climate stories have already occupied.

In recent years though, network news has recognized the distancing effect that such “doomsday” narratives have had on audiences. They’ve begun increasing their focus on the current geological effects of climate change, the economic impact rising temperatures have had, and the government’s handling of the long-discussed issue.

If network news outlets can effectively communicate the importance of climate change and the need for people to both do their part and put pressure on our government, they can progressively make an impact through behavioral influence. The severe drop in coverage in the past year is unfortunate and obstructs this possibility; but, if news outlets can bump their coverage to the levels of PBS, I believe that people will be better informed and exhibit increased pressure on our government to take steps toward fighting global warming.

Sources

http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/official-us-climate-report-attributes-92-of-climate-change-to-human-activit

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/12/doomsday-narratives-climate-change-dangerous-wrong

http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/pathways-to-news/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/mar/27/pbs-is-the-only-network-reporting-on-climate-change-trump-wants-to-cut-it

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/extreme-climate-linked-events-are-virtually-certain-to-increase-according-to-exhaustive-government-report

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/humans-are-responsible-for-climate-change-report-says-1020253763505

http://www.journalism.org/2014/10/21/political-polarization-media-habits/