Introduction

Climate change is the single most pressing global issue of our era. While scientists are in agreement that the Earth is heating up as a result of more and more human activities, the exact impact of climate change on the planet and its inhabitants is still uncertain. Climate change affects various aspects of our lives, including food and water resources, health and wellbeing, and energy use. Not to mention its far- reaching implications for the environment and the natural world. While climate change is a somewhat contentious issue in some areas of the globe, it is vital that we work towards a sustainable future for our planet. In light of climate change, it is important that media attention to the environment, and in particular climate change, increases in order to educate people about the issues at stake and potential solutions. The media plays a key role in shaping public opinion on scientific and environmental issues, and few would disagree that the media has been working below par in recent years on the coverage of climate change.

Importance of Climate Change Reporting

When Univision, the most widely watched Spanish language news channel in the United States, failed to provide any coverage of the historic 2006 United Nations Climate Change Conference, many Americans, particularly Hispanic and Latino Americans, were left in the dark on an issue that is expected to have significant global implications in coming years. A 2006 report by the nonprofit organization, Project for Improved Environmental Coverage, documented that television news coverage in the United States did not accurately reflect the level of scientific certainty about climate change, did not clearly communicate the significance and relevance of the issue to citizens, and was often not proportional to the potential effects of climate change or the amount of attention it was receiving from policy makers and the public. Such inadequacies in climate change reporting result in part from journalists’ personal views and attitudes on the issue, as well as from perceived priorities of news audiences. It is important to recognize that journalists’ perceptions of their audience can often be more influential than actual audience knowledge, and that individuals in society often take cues on public issues from the media. Climate issues are no exception: A 2009 study found that public opinion across the world on the seriousness of climate change had declined since 2007 in spite of increasing scientific evidence that global warming is occurring. In short, journalism is an important variable in the equation of public concern and policy action on climate issues. At a global level, climate change gateway reported on the United Nations Environment Programme’s analysis of gaps in climate change coverage which build a compelling case for the importance of solutions such as a journalist training toolkit on the environment.