פורסם: 15 באפר׳ 2014, 4:30 על ידי: Sustainability Org
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עודכן 15 באפר׳ 2014, 4:31
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April 7, 2014 Science or Spin?: Assessing the Accuracy of Cable News Coverage of Climate Science
Accuracy varies significantly across major cable news
outlets. All of them can take steps to improve their coverage of
climate science.
 CNN,
Fox News, and MSNBC are the most widely watched cable news networks in
the U.S. Their coverage of climate change is an influential source of
information for the public and policy makers alike.
 To
gauge how accurately these networks inform their audiences about
climate change, UCS analyzed the networks' climate science coverage in
2013 and found that each network treated climate science very
differently.
Fox News was the least accurate; 72 percent of its 2013 climate
science-related segments contained misleading statements. CNN was in the
middle, with about a third of segments featuring misleading statements.
MSNBC was the most accurate, with only eight percent of segments
containing misleading statements.
 The
public deserves climate coverage that gets the science right. Media
outlets can do more to foster a fact-based conversation about climate
change and policies designed to address it, rather than contributing to a
broken and inaccurate debate about the established facts of climate
science.
CNN: Two-Thirds Accurate, One-Third Misleading
 CNN
covered climate science 43 times in 2013. Of these segments, 70 percent
were entirely accurate, while 30 percent included misleading portrayals
of the science.- Most of CNN's misleading coverage stemmed from debates between
guests who accepted established climate science and other guests who
disputed it. This format suggests that established climate science is
still widely debated among scientists, which it is not, and also allows
opponents of climate policy to convey inaccurate statements about
climate science.
- The biggest step that CNN could take to
increase accuracy is to stop hosting debates about established climate
science and instead focus debates on whether and how to respond to
climate change through climate policy.
Fox News: Misleading Most of the Time
 Fox
News covered climate science 50 times in 2013. Of these segments, 28
percent were entirely accurate, while 72 percent included misleading
portrayals of the science.- More than half of Fox's misleading coverage (53%) was from one
program, The Five, where the hosts often instigated misleading debates
about established climate science. In general, Fox hosts and guests were
more likely than those of other networks to disparage the study of
climate science and criticize scientists.
- Fox News did show an improvement from a UCS snapshot analysis of Fox News coverage in 2012,
in which the network's coverage was entirely accurate in only 7 percent
of segments, while 93 percent contained misleading statements. To
further improve accuracy, the most productive step Fox News could take
would be for hosts and guests to better differentiate between scientific
facts about climate change and political opinions about climate policy.
MSNBC: Mostly Accurate, with Some Overstatements
 MSNBC
covered climate science 132 times in 2013. Of these segments, 92
percent were entirely accurate, while 8 percent included misleading
portrayals of the science.- The handful of misleading statements were inaccurate in the same
manner: all overstated the effects of climate change, particularly the
link between climate change and specific types of extreme weather, such
as tornadoes.
- MSNBC generally accurately represented
nuanced findings around climate change and extreme weather, but they
could do so more often to achieve even higher levels of accuracy.
Accurate climate science coverage can better inform public discussions about climate change across the political spectrum
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Rights and permissions: You are free to use the
graphics above without alterations online, in written materials, and in
presentations. Any online use must include proper citation and a link to
this web page. Source: ucsusa.org
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Accuracy of climate science coverage by network. View full-size chart with caption.