Skip to main content
  • Online media
  • Tariffs
  • Jeanine Pirro
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • RSS
  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Media Matters for America

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Media Matters for America

  • Nav
  • Search
  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives
  • Online media
  • Tariffs
  • Jeanine Pirro
  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Fox-Hurricane-Ida-Climate

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

As Hurricane Ian hits Florida, Fox News undermines climate change

Special Programs Climate & Energy

Written by Alicia Sadowski

Published 09/27/22 11:15 PM EDT

As Floridians prepared for landfall from Hurricane Ian, Fox News focused on climate denial. The storm, a catastrophic Category 4, could be the first to inundate Tampa in over a century, and already poses “serious risks” to the Gulf Coast.

Jesse Watters used the storm to mock climate action and later Tucker Carlson referred to severity warnings as a  “scam,” though he did admit that the threat from Ian was real.

And within an hour of the Cuban Ministry of Mines and Energy announcing that the entire island’s power grid had collapsed in the wake of the storm, Sean Hannity declared Democrats noting climate change’s potential impacts on hurricanes  were “politicizing a tragedy.” He hosted his favorite climate denier Joe Bastardi to emphasize that hurricane frequency in Florida has not increased.

Video file

Citation

From the September 27, 2022, edition of Fox News' Hannity 

By focusing only on Florida’s past frequency of storms, Bastardi omitted a crucial climate impact of hurricanes. As global warming causes ocean temperatures to rise, the warmer water fuels higher winds that can intensify more quickly, creating storms with a greater likelihood of reaching intense Category 4 or 5 levels.

As the AP noted:

Fox prime-time’s flippant attacks on scientific reality are not surprising, however, as the network continues to launch unhinged attacks and carry on their legacy of climate denial.

The Latest

  1. Right-wing media push Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill as estimates find over 11,000 could die annually from loss of Medicaid

    Article 06/24/25 4:00 PM EDT

  2. Charlie Kirk on Trump's mass deportations: “10 million is gonna be a big number in four years, which is basically gonna launch a soft civil war in the major cities”

    Video & Audio 06/24/25 2:26 PM EDT

  3. Riley Gaines says Maine or California need “to be made an example of” for allowing trans athletes to compete

    Video & Audio 06/24/25 1:57 PM EDT

  4. Fox host calls for Israel to conduct more “assassinations” in Iran

    Video & Audio 06/24/25 11:50 AM EDT

  5. Fox host Ainsley Earhardt: Democrats “are pushing this narrative that's not true that Republicans are cutting Medicare and Medicaid”

    Video & Audio 06/24/25 10:02 AM EDT

Pagination

  • Previous page ‹‹
  • …
  • Current page 11
  • …
  • Next page ››

In This Article

  • Sean Hannity

    Sean-Hannity-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Joe Bastardi

    joe-bastardi_mmfa_tag
  • Hurricanes

    Hurricanes_MMFA_Tag

Related

  1. Fox News falsely denies GOP's “One Big Beautiful Bill” will impact Medicaid while defending cuts in the bill

    Research/Study 07/01/25 2:32 PM EDT

  2. Fox News encouraged the US to directly attack inside Iran — and then praised Trump when he listened

    Research/Study 06/27/25 1:37 PM EDT

  3. Half of the top 10 online shows spread misinformation or false narratives about Hurricane Helene in 2024

    Research/Study 06/26/25 10:49 AM EDT

Media Matters for America

Sign up for email updates
  • About
  • Contact
  • Corrections
  • Submissions
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • RSS

© 2025 Media Matters for America

RSS