Watchdog group’s report finds big gaps in TV’S climate coverage

Television news lacks people of color as guests in climate segments, a new analysis found, despite communities of color bearing the most impact from climate change.

Media Matters, a nonprofit media watchdog organization, released its annual analysis on Feb. 28 on how broadcast news organizations covered climate change last year.

While climate change coverage on television news increased for a second consecutive year, it accounted for just 1% of corporate broadcast segments in 2022, according to the study, which analyzed climate coverage from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

Of guest appearances, non-hispanic white men made up the majority – 57% – of that 1%, while women of color made up just 9%. Men of color accounted for 11%. Media Matters counted guests as those who were government officials, activists and advocates, and experts such as scientists.

The analysis also found a lack of segments discussing climate justice, which refers to climate change’s disproportionate impact on front-line communities, as well as their lack of contribution to factors that drive a warming climate, such as fossil fuels.

As the world contends with a dangerously warming climate, the findings show significant gaps in climate and climate justice coverage in America’s television news broadcasts, advocates and experts say.

Research shows communities of color face disproportionate harm from climate change and pollution while contributing the least to it. In polls, more respondents of color compared to white respondents reported they are concerned about climate change.

The Lancet’s most recent “Countdown” report on health and climate change, for example, details how climate threats amplify inequities due to structural racism and the intersecting risks that come with it. While more than 40% of the U.S. population lived in cities where air pollution levels exceeded safe standards, areas of the country with the largest projected increases in heat-related deaths are 40% more likely to be Black communities, the researchers found.

“It’s indefensible that these stories continue to go unheard on national news networks, that they failed to amplify, elevate voices from front-line communities, who can really speak to the unique challenges that they face,” said Evlondo Cooper, climate and energy senior writer at Media Matters.