How Broadcast News Covered Climate Change In The Last Five Years

In 2013, Broadcast Networks Increased Coverage But Remained Below 2009 Highs.

Media Offered Tepid Coverage Despite Major Report, Presidential Speech, And Scientific Milestone On Climate Change.

In 2013, top international climate scientists released a major report on the state of climate science, following up on a 2007 report. The report found that the science on climate change has only gotten stronger during those six years, determining with 95 percent certainty that human activities are the “dominant cause” of global warming. Additionally, President Barack Obama delivered a major speech entirely focused on climate change, which former Vice President Al Gore hailed as the “best address on climate by any president ever.” The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the most important heat-trapping gas driving climate change, also surpassed a long-feared milestone of 400 parts per million — an amount never seen before in human history. And extreme weather events made more likely or worsened by climate change also drew widespread coverage, even as the climate connection was ignored: near-record floodwaters washed over the Midwest, devastating wildfires swept the western United States, and the worst cyclone to make landfall on record struck the Philippines, wiping out entire communities and killing thousands of people. Despite all this, broadcast news’ climate coverage remained relatively low.

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