
Media Matters / Andrea Austria
Research/Study
National TV news chokes out the climate angle in coverage of Canadian wildfires
Only 17% of all mainstream cable and corporate broadcast news segments from a Media Matters review mentioned climate change
Published
Despite the established scientific consensus linking climate change to more frequent and intense wildfires, national TV news networks have not consistently connected the Canadian wildfire smoke currently blanketing large swaths of the American East Coast to the climate crisis.
A review by Media Matters found that during a 24-hour period on June 7 national TV news broadcasters — ABC, CBS, and NBC — and cable news networks — CNN and MSNBC — covered the Canadian wildfire smoke blanketing the East Coast for more than 3 ½ hours across 89 segments. Within those segments climate change was mentioned 15 times.
Fox News covered the story for 2 hours and 41 minutes across 55 segments. Fox’s coverage included 10 climate mentions — but they were all skeptical or dismissive of the role climate change played in making this year’s Canadian wildfire season more destructive.