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Most UK media reports on June heatwave failed to mention climate crisis (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/nature@feddit.uk
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Most of the UK media stories about the record-breaking heatwave that struck in June failed to mention the climate crisis, analysis has found.

Nearly 2,500 articles about the extreme heat – when temperatures topped 37C, a record for the time of year – appeared in the UK’s nine main national daily media publications. But nearly three-quarters of them – about 72% – left out any mention of global heating or the climate, according to the analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

Even fewer pieces drew a link between the heatwave and government policies designed to tackle the climate crisis – less than one in 20 heatwave stories mentioned “net zero”.

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[–] 1 point 3 months ago

For example this article from the BBC today that initially had no mention of climate change until it was updated a couple of hours ago. Comments rightly have people pointing out the lack of climate change commentary but are also riddled with deniers.

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    3 comments in c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk view that post
    [–] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    So one quarter did. I think that's reasonable, though it needs to be across every outlet, as without reading I'm sure GB news wasn't singing about that.

    But there's no need to mention climate change alongside every, or nearly every report on extreme weather - that's absurd. It'd be like mentioning the cause of the war in Ukraine in every article on that - it's appropriate at first when some people haven't heard, but decreasingly afterwards.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    The cause of war in Ukraine isn't (widely) disputed or controversial, outside of extreme circles. Unfortunately human-caused climate change being the driver for extreme weather is.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    I looked up some stats. A YouGov poll puts support for Russia in the war at 4% in the UK (as against 21% "don't know" and the rest support Ukraine) so it's pretty fringe. This poll is a bit harder to interpret but sure, climate change is less accepted than the idea that we should favour Ukraine in the war.

    I think though that the principle stands. Mentioning the link frequently, but not all the time, is appropriate for a link that most people understand and agree exists.

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