The organization Media Matters for America’s report on how the news outlets ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News reported on the climate crisis in 2020 confirms what we all already knew - the climate is pretty much left out of the story, even when reporting on climate-related disasters:
www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/how-broadcast-tv-networks-covered-climate-change-2020
Going through the report makes it all very clear:
The amount of minutes (380 - in total, for the whole year) spent talking about the climate emergency we’re in, in a year when climate disasters were so apparent, is just ridiculous.
The non-diversity in who gets airtime (and the discrepancy between who gets to speak vs which groups are and will be most affected) is outrageous.
The fact that the scientists are often not even invited to the conversation in the first place is equally so.
And finally, when the climate crisis is indeed mentioned - to go down the rabbit hole of gloom and doom and to not give any suggestions about what can be done...that is just not at all helpful. When we talk about the climate crisis we need to talk about climate solutions too!
We warmly recommend reading the full report for further context. And for a more positive outlook, visit www.coveringclimatenow.org - “a global journalism initiative committed to more and better coverage of the defining story of our time”. Because we need these stories. With the words of Greta Thunberg (and maybe many others; this is where we heard it last): “We can’t solve a crisis unless we treat it like a crisis”.
And it is exactly like that. If the general public never really hear about the reality that is climate science, how will we ever ignite the changes needed towards a livable earth for future generations (and ourselves)? Thank you Media Matters for America for reporting on this very thing year after year - and thank you to every journalist out there doing your best to get climate news on the agenda.
And - cheers to each and everyone of us out here on the ground, doing our best to share the news in our everyday lives…we are all needed for this work, every voice matters!
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For more ideas of climate crisis-literature and -solutions, here is a list compiled by Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr Katharine Wilkinson:
www.ideas.ted.com/your-climate-crisis-reading-list-15-essential-reads
For daily climate-related news to your inbox, consider subscribing to Emily Atkin’s newsletter Heated - “A newsletter for people who are pissed of about the climate crisis”: