Ted MacDonald

While Earth Day falls on April 22 each year, many companies and news outlets spend the week leading up to Earth Day or even the entire month of April promoting environmental awareness and ways to help save the planet. An analysis by Media Matters found: During the week of April 16-22, corporate broadcast TV networks ABC, CBS, and NBC spent a combined 182 minutes — just over 3 hours — discussing climate and environmental issues. On Earth Day alone, the networks spent 46 minutes covering climate and the environment, which is a 35% decrease from 2022’s 71 minutes. (Earth Day in 2023, however, fell on a Saturday, when NBC’s Today ran for 1.5 hours. During weekdays, as on Earth Day last year, the program runs for 3 hours.) In total, NBC news programs spent 72 minutes discussing climate and environmental issues from April 16-22. ABC news programs spent 71 minutes discussing climate and environmental issues during this timeframe, and CBS news programs spent just 39 minutes. The segments were a mixed bag of quality climate coverage and segments that focused on individuals’ carbon footprints without mentioning the need for systemic change.

The impacts and scale of climate change demand accurate and consistent news reporting, yet corporate broadcast networks in recent years have all too often given the issue uneven coverage. However, corporate broadcast networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC have improved their coverage again in 2022, and dedicated climate correspondents have been an essential part of this progress.  2022 saw morning, evening, and Sunday morning political shows on ABC, CBS, Fox Broadcasting Co., and NBC spending nearly 23 hours combined discussing climate change — breaking a decade-long trend of year-to-year fluctuation in their climate coverage — thanks in part to the work of their specialized climate correspondents, including Ginger Zee, Ben Tracy, and Anne Thompson. Climate correspondents bring expertise in the science and policy of climate change, allowing them to provide accurate and in-depth coverage of major headline climate stories, amplify local reporting or unique climate stories to national audiences, and present a more complete picture of how climate is impacting our communities. In addition, they are able to identify important angles and trends that might otherwise be overlooked and to provide context and background information that helps viewers understand the significance of new developments.

Corporate TV news had another critical opportunity to educate the public about the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels following the recent release of the latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, coverage failed to connect the report to the Willow project, a controversial oil and gas site that was approved for drilling one week before the IPCC released its latest warning.   National TV news must provide more context and inform the public about the real-world implications of the report from the United Nations panel, especially in regard to controversial projects like Willow.

On March 13, the Biden administration approved the Willow Project, a highly contentious $6 billion proposal from ConocoPhillips to drill for oil and gas in Alaska. The project is expected to generate over 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year and produce roughly 600 million barrels of oil over 30 years. The decision to greenlight the project was widely considered a “climate litmus test” for President Joe Biden, and it has faced fierce opposition by activists online and on the ground as a potential “carbon bomb” at a time when scientists warn that our dependency on fossil fuels must be drastically reduced to avoid catastrophe. A Media Matters analysis from March 13-14 found that: Major TV news networks on cable – CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC – aired nearly 1 1/2 hours of total coverage and ran 31 segments combined on the decision to approve the Willow Project. Fox News (54 mins) spent more time covering the major climate story than CNN (16 mins) and MSNBC (15 mins) combined. Only 26% of the overall cable news segments on the Willow Project discussed its climate implications.

In 2022, weekday editions of PBS’s nightly news program NewsHour aired twice as many segments on the climate crisis as the nightly news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, which is particularly notable in a year when corporate broadcast networks’ climate coverage reached an all-time high. PBS NewsHour has traditionally outperformed its broadcast counterparts in both the scope and depth of its climate coverage. In 2022, the show continued to push the bar on quality climate coverage higher.