U.S. media coverage of global warming is a hot topic among some journalists, and an overheated one on the web. We at Down to Earth are going to wade in, gently, because of a couple of events this week.

The argument, for those who don’t enjoy the web’s version of an old-school WWF smackdown, goes like this: Either the media is downplaying the story by focusing on skeptics and marginal conflicts, or it is exaggerating it by spreading fear of imminent doom. Many journalists come down in the middle (where else?) and would agree that the media has been guilty of both.

A story in the New York Times this week got the action going again. The story’s about criticism of how science was presented in the film "An Inconvenient Truth," and the article itself became the object of rebuttals and criticism. Look here and here.

The other event that brought the issue to mind happened in Augusta, during a visit this week by four members of the British Parliament. The Brits were asked how the United Kingdom became a leader in global efforts to switch to renewable energy sources, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fight global warming. The implied second half of the question was, “and why is the U.S. so far behind?”

The delegation’s primary answer was that it did it slowly, one little step at a time. There were other possible factors, from recent heat waves to the election of a Labour Government. The Honorable Greg Knight, a Conservative member of the House of Commons, also offered this explanation:

“We’ve been helped to some extent in the UK by our tabloid press.” The always sensational London tabloids, he said, have reported on climate change “as if Armageddon was about to happen next week.”

We can tell you first hand it’s a difficult story to tell, and that lots of mainstream American journalists are trying hard to do it without getting pulled away from the scientific consensus, one way or the other. Of course, readers always bring their own biases, as well – not that there’s anything wrong with that. So join in, if you wish, but no eye gouging or folding metal chairs, please.

E-mail this entry to a friend