Are we really aware of climate change?
MediaLast April, a part of France experienced frosts that damaged agricultural land, particularly wine-growing land. Such low temperatures were considered as surprising at that time of the year. When they saw images of destroyed crops on television or on the internet, many people expressed the same thought: why are we being told about global warming when cold records are being broken in April? In fact, this remark expresses one thing: a lack of education about climate change – climate change includes global warming, but is not limited to it. The destruction of agricultural production was also due to an exceptionally warm March (up to 27°C in some places), which allowed the plants to bud earlier; the following frost episodes were therefore fatal to them.
This episode is a real example of climate change: very high temperatures, followed by very low temperatures, that are both unusual at the time of the year. But in the media, I have noted that the link between these temperature changes and climate change was not always expressed, let alone explained. That is why many people did not understand what happened, and some even questioned the very existence of climate change.
This is one of the problems of the media in France, my home country: the topic of climate change is not as present as it should be. According to an Ipsos survey from November 2019, the environment is the number one concern for 42% of French people in the long term. In April 2020, it was still the third concern after Covid-19 and the healthcare system. However, the share of climate-related stories is less than 1% on average, with peaks of 2% on the news channels and almost 5% for some national newspapers, according to a study by the journalist NGO Reporters d’Espoirs. It can be noted that the climate is almost absent from the radio news of the morning – from 0% on RMC, to 0.9 and 1.3% of subjects on RTL and France Inter. The subject seems to be confined to interviews and specialised columns. Also, the study states that none of the radio news about climate topics could be described as constructive. On TV, environmental subjects represent 17.3% of all subjects on the news of TF1, and 12.4% on France2. Subjects about climate represent 1% of the subjects on France2, and 0.9% on TF1. One can say that the environment is more and more mentioned in the television news. The number of subjects on environment has increased threefold between 2010 and 2020. It is also increasing in the written press: from 0.57% articles with the word “climate” in 2010 to 3.80% in 2019. That is good news, but still not enough.
Environmental topics are more and more present in the media, but there is a need for more contextualisation. Some news are related, but the link with climate change is not always explicitly mentioned. For example, the massive fires in Australia in 2019 and 2020 were on top of the news; but the link with climate change was not always made clear on TV or in articles, even though these events illustrated the effects of climate change in concrete terms.
When climate change is mentioned, I also have the feeling that sometimes the media bring fear when reporting problems. It seems like there is no way out and that the situation will inexorably go worse and worse. But I think the role of media is also to bring out solutions and to give more visibility to initiatives and innovations against climate change. TV subjects or press articles should be a means to fight fear or fatalism caused by climate change.
In my opinion, one of the best ways to be informed and updated about that topic is social media. Social media, such as Twitter, Instagram or Youtube, are platforms that can be really helpful to understand what is at stake. I think about scientists who take time to explain what climate change is, what the causes and consequences are, or what can be done to mitigate it. Social media is also a way to bring people together. It reminds me of the movement Fridays for Future. In that case, social media helped with both organising demonstrations and mobilising people. Many teenagers and young adults learn what climate change is thanks to social media. That is how they become aware of how much it is important to care about it and to take action. But like everything, social media also has its bad sides. It is important to be careful about what you read or watch, since social media are known to be a nest of misinformation. There are for example “climate sceptics” who deny climate change. You have to be critical and always consult several sources.
Obviously, media have an impact on public opinion on climate change. For 81% of French people, seeing environmental and climate issues increasingly covered by media seems to induce not only an increased awareness interest, but also a change in behaviour (Harris Interactive pour Ca m’intéresse, 09/2019). They pay more attention on how they travel or on waste management. But climate change is still only mentioned superficially and briefly. The real reasons for climate change and its consequences are not discussed in depth by the media, even though the future of the generations to come depends on it. Let’s hope that the media coverage of this crucial topic will keep increasing and that everyone will finally be aware of what is at stake.
Sources:
Etude Reporters d’Espoirs, MédiasClimat, 2020: https://reportersdespoirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Etude_Climat_ReportersdEspoirs_07072020.pdf
Méta-Médias, Le changement climatique vu par les médias: https://www.meta-media.fr/2020/07/24/etude-le-changement-climatique-vu-par-les-medias.html