'Call It a Crisis': New Report Details Failure of Cable and Network Outlets to Accurately Describe Climate Emergency

Is it any wonder why we American are so misinformed, uninformed, ignorant, and not taking fierce actions related to the greatest existential crises ever to face humankind and all of life on Earth? This neglect by our corporate media is criminal. For years I've been listening to the radical differences between independent media — such as Democracy Now! (https://www.democracynow.org/), whose reporting for years has been linking wildfires, floods, droughts, mega storms, etc. with the human impact on our warming planet — with resources like CNN and NPR who may report the mega storms, etc., but who fail repeatedly to make the link to human caused climate disruption. Again, this neglect is criminal.

When ratings and money trump bringing us the news we most need to know, our media has betrayed us all. And this longtime betrayal is now impacting more and more of us here in our nation and globally with the catastrophic consequences of our warming planet. As Bill McKibben says, "we now live on a different planet" — one that Bill first warned us was coming three decades ago.

It has now been many decades since multiple resources provided us with the truth about the peril global warming poses to people and the planet. And those decades have been squandered, utterly squandered. And our media continues to this very day to fixate on things like Trump and Russiagate and Mueller while the greatest threat to all of our lives doesn't even make the airwaves let alone the headlines. This is criminal neglect.

So now we have millions of children rising up worldwide to call us adults out on our betrayal of them and their very futures. There is a vital need for us to again and again face the truth of this betrayal and demand actions and changes from our media, our political leaders, and each and every one of us. As 16 year old Greta Thunberg has wisely said, "Our house is on fire! I want you to panic as though there is a crisis. Because there is!"

This decades long inaction is a terrible indictment on us all. And it's an invitation to WAKE UP and ACT NOW! Human caused climate disruption needs to be in all the headlines and in all of our hearts, minds, voices, and choices. We have no more time to waste. We are at the 12th hour. And the eyes of the children are watching. — Molly

"Words matter."

By

Common Dreams staff

Name and shame.

That's the dual directive from a new report that calls on news organizations to use appropriate language when discussing the climate crisis—even as the report calls them out for inaction.

The report—titled "'Call It a Crisis': The Role of U.S. Network News in Communicating the Urency of Climate Change" (pdf)—analyzed the coverage of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News to determine just how much urgency the influential outlets bring to their reporting.

According to David Arkush, managing director of Public Citizen's Climate Program, the specific words that journalists and news anchors use—or choose not to use—matters.

"The words we use to characterize an issue make a difference in how it is perceived and prioritized politically," said Arkush.

When outlets with massive nightly audiences like the ones the report studied "consistently fail to use language that conveys that climate change is a crisis or emergency," Arkush added, "they unwittingly put a heavy thumb on the scale in favor of complacency and inaction."

Fox News was the worst offender, with the use of "climate crisis" coming in for only five mentions during the coverage period—all of which, as Public Citizen noted, were efforts to "minimize the issue with false logic, mockery or misinformation." But other news networks weren't much better than the conservative channel.

The only network to use the term in double digits was CNN, and only 16 of the 26 mentions were by a host. Van Jones, whose eponymous show ran every other Sunday during the survey period, accounted for six of those mentions. 

NEW REPORT: In 2018, only 50 of 1,429 national TV news segments used the word “crisis” or “emergency" when discussing climate change. That's a measly 3.5 percent.

Here's how the networks stack up:

MSNBC: 7%
NBC: 6%
CNN: 3%
CBS: 3%
ABC: 2%
Fox: 2%https://t.co/93TwlUFU6F pic.twitter.com/flGtQobdZd

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) April 29, 2019

Networks should name the problem clearly to avoid confusion, said Allison Fisher, outreach director for Public Citizen's Energy Program. 

"Climate coverage on broadcast and cable television news is still at best spotty and at worst riddled with misinformation," Fisher said. "Calling it a crisis indicates that the stakes are high and that the issue is urgent. Most of all it signals to viewers that the time to act on climate is now."

How to report on the climate crisis has long been an issue for news organizations. In July 2018, MSNBC host Chris Hayes said on Twitter that while he was personally invested in the story, the topic was "a palpable ratings killer."

"So the incentives are not great," said Hayes. 

"Almost without exception. every single time we've covered it's been a palpable ratings killer. So the incentives are not great."

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 24, 2018

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