A World on Fire Needs More Climate Reporting-Not Less

"Covering Climate Now was formed in 2019 in response to the climate silence that then prevailed in much of the press, especially in the United States. Over the years that followed, hundreds of newsrooms joined our effort, and press coverage of the story began to reflect the scale of the crisis. Newsrooms beefed up their climate reporting teams; they confronted misinformation that sought to play down the problem; they thought creatively about how to find the climate connection on every beat."

"That all changed in the run-up to the 2024 US presidential election. Even though the stakes of that election were clear-everyone knew what Donald Trump would do to climate policy if he returned to power-climate never made it near the top of the list of journalistic priorities during the campaign. A September 2024 debate between Trump and Kamala Harris was typical: Climate change got only one question from the moderators, near the end of the debate."

"Just over a year into Trump's second term, it is now clear that many newsrooms see the climate story as a slog, and are scaling back. In the United States, The Washington Post gutted its climate team as part of its ongoing series of layoffs, and CBS, NBC, and ABC cut back on their coverage."

Covering Climate Now, a journalism collaboration founded in 2019, successfully mobilized hundreds of newsrooms to increase climate coverage and confront misinformation. However, this progress reversed during the 2024 US presidential election cycle, when climate change received minimal journalistic attention despite its critical importance. During a September 2024 debate, climate received only one question, with Trump dismissing global warming as a hoax and Harris discussing fracking. Following Trump's return to power, major US newsrooms including The Washington Post, CBS, NBC, and ABC have significantly reduced their climate reporting teams and coverage, treating the story as a burden rather than a priority.

Read at The Nation