New Study: Anti-Climate Change Voices Got 2x More Press Coverage
Arguments against taking action on climate change were far more likely to get coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal or USA Today based on new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Rachel Wetts, the paper’s author and an assistant professor at Brown University, asked a crucial question:
Whose voices are most likely to receive news coverage in the US debate about climate change?
To find an answer, she performed an analysis of 1,768 press releases and resultant coverage in the nation’s three largest newspapers by circulation, the aforementioned Wall Street Journal, USA Today and New York Times.
Using plagiarism-detection software, she found that 14% of releases opposing action or denying the science on climate change received coverage whereas only 7% of releases with pro-climate action messages got the same treatment.
The press releases analyzed were from a variety of businesses, advocacy organizations, scientific researchers, trade organizations and the public sector during the almost thirty years between 1985 and 2013.
In Grist’s coverage of this research, Wetts said in a statement that this type of media skew “can dampen political will to act on climate change.”
Hopefully, this type of research can lead to less of that skew and eventually more action that will have a real impact.
Read more:
Brown University’s summary of Wetts’ research is here.
The abstract and peer-reviewed article (for those with a subscription) in the Proceedings is here.
