The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20230424062049/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1075547011422957?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.8
Skip to main content
Intended for healthcare professionals
Restricted access
Research article
First published online December 20, 2011

Scientific Assessments of Climate Change Information in News and Entertainment Media

Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert LichterView all authors and affiliations
Volume 34, Issue 4
https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547011422957

Abstract

An elite survey of members of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union conducted in 2007 reveals that the vast majority of climate scientists positively assess both national print news reports and Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth as informative, with lower grades being assessed on climate change content that appeared on network and cable television news as well as in Michael Crichton’s novel State of Fear. Multivariate analysis reveals that more positive scientific assessments are associated in most cases with the level of confidence scientists have in the research conducted by their colleagues as well the severity of the impact they anticipate from global warming in the years ahead.

Get full access to this article

View all access and purchase options for this article.

Get Access

References

Boykoff M. T. (2005). The disconnect of news reporting from scientific evidence. Nieman Reports, Harvard University, Winter, 85-86.
Google Scholar
Boykoff M. T. (2007a). From convergence to contention: United States mass media representations of anthropogenic climate change science. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 32, 477-489.
Crossref
ISI
Google Scholar
Boykoff M. T. (2007b). Flogging a dead norm? Newspaper coverage of anthropogenic climate change in the United States and the United Kingdom from 2003-2006. Area, 39, 470-481.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Boykoff M. T., Boykoff J. M. (2007). Climate change and journalistic norms: A case study of US mass media coverage. Geoforum, 38, 1190-1204.
Crossref
ISI
Google Scholar
Brahic C. (2010, April 14). Climategate scientists chastised over statistics. New Scientist. Retrieved from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18776-climategate-scientists-chastised-over-statistics.html
Google Scholar
Bray D., von Storch H. (2007, November). Climate scientists’ perceptions of climate change science (GKSS Institute for Coastal Research Report). Retrieved from http://dvsun3.gkss.de/BERICHTE/GKSS_Berichte_2007/GKSS_2007_11.pdf
Google Scholar
Broder J. M. (2009, February 27). Obama’s greenhouse gas gamble. New York Times, p. A15.
Google Scholar
Broder J. M., Wald M. L. (2009, February 11). Big science role is seen in global warming cure. New York Times, p. A24.
Google Scholar
Center for Media and Public Affairs. (2001). Media coverage of global warming. Washington, DC: CMPA Press.
Google Scholar
Clayton M. (2007, December). Study finds White House manipulation on climate science. Christian Science Monitor, 12, 3.
Google Scholar
Corbett J. B., Durfee J. (2008). Testing public (un)certainty of science: Media representations of global warming. Science Communication, 26, 129-151.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Corbett J. B., Young L. E., Davis B. L. (2008, August). Conflict theory and climate change news: The interplay of media, science, politics, industry and audience. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago, IL.
Google Scholar
Downs A. (1972). Up and down with ecology—The “issue-attention cycle.” The Public Interest, 28, 38-50.
Google Scholar
Dunwoody S., Brossard D., Dudo A. (2009). Socialization or rewards? Predicting US scientist-media interactions. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89, 299-314.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Farenthold D. A., Eilperin J. (2010, July 8). Panel clears scientists in “climate-gate.” Washington Post, p. A5.
Google Scholar
Farnsworth S. J., Lichter S. R. (2006). The mediated presidency: Television news and presidential governance. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Google Scholar
Glynn C. J., Herbst S., O’Keefe G. J., Shapiro R. Y., Lindeman M. (2004). Public opinion (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview.
Google Scholar
Harris G. (2008, December 20). Four top science advisors are named by Obama. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/us/politics/21science.html
Google Scholar
Hayward S. (2009, December 14). Scientists behaving badly. Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/300ubchn.asp
Google Scholar
Inhofe J. (2003, July 28). The science of climate change. U.S. Senate floor statement.
Google Scholar
Iyengar S. (1991). Is anyone responsible? How television frames political issues. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Iyengar S., Kinder D. R. (1987). News that matters. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar
Janofsky M. K. (2005, September 28). Michael Crichton, scientist, becomes Senate witness. New York Times, p. E5.
Google Scholar
Keating R. J. (2008, February 4). Climate shift: Rhetoric distorts reality. Newsday, p. A29.
Google Scholar
Lichter S. R. (2009, May 21). Are chemicals killing us? Experts speak out (STATS report). Retrieved from http://stats.org/stories/2009/are_chemicals_killing_us.html
Google Scholar
Lichter S. R., Rothman S. (1983). Scientists’ attitudes toward nuclear energy. Nature, 305, 91-94.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Lichter S. R., Rothman S. (1999). Environmental cancer: A political disease? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Google Scholar
Maibach E., Witte J., Wilson K. (2011, January). “Climate-gate” undermined belief in global warming among many American TV meteorologists. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Advance online publication.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Mazur A. (2009). American generation of environmental warnings: Avian influenza and global warming. Human Ecology Review, 16(1), 17-26.
ISI
Google Scholar
Mazur A., Lee L. (1993). Sounding the global alarm: Environmental issues in the US national news. Social Studies of Science, 23, 681-720.
Crossref
ISI
Google Scholar
McCright A. M., Dunlap R. E. (2003). Defeating Kyoto: The conservative movement’s impact on US climate change policy. Social Problems, 50, 348-373.
Crossref
ISI
Google Scholar
Media Monitor. (1992). The great greenhouse debate: Media coverage and expert opinion on global warming. Retrieved from http://www.cmpa.com/files/media_monitor/92dec.pdf
Google Scholar
Miller M. M., Boone J., Fowler D. (1990). The emergence of greenhouse effect on the issue agenda. News Computing Journal, 7(4), 25-38.
Google Scholar
Mooney C. (2004, November). Blinded by science: How “balanced” coverage lets the scientific fringe hijack reality. Columbia Journalism Review, 43(4), 26-35.
Google Scholar
Moser S. C., Dilling L. (2004). Making climate hot: Communicating the urgency and challenge of global climate change. Environment, 46(10), 32-46.
ISI
Google Scholar
Mumpower J. L., Stewart T. R. (1996). Expert judgment and expert disagreement. Thinking and Reasoning, 2, 191-211.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Murray D., Schwartz J., Lichter S. R. (2001). It ain’t necessarily so: How media make and unmake the scientific picture of reality. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Google Scholar
New York Times. (1971, November 23). Directory of scientists will now list women. Retrieved from http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10A14F93D591A7493C1AB178AD95F458785F9
Google Scholar
Newport F. (2010, March 11). Americans’ global warming concerns continue to drop. Omaha, NE: Gallup.
Google Scholar
Nisbet M. C., Myers T. (2007). Twenty years of public opinion about global warming. Public Opinion Quarterly, 71, 444-470.
Crossref
ISI
Google Scholar
Oreskes N. (2004). The scientific consensus on climate change. Science, 306, 1686-1688.
Crossref
PubMed
ISI
Google Scholar
Patterson T. E. (1994). Out of order. New York, NY: Vintage.
Google Scholar
Peters H. P., Brossard D., de Cheveigné S., Dunwoody S., Kallfass M., Miller S., Tsuchida S. (2008a). Science communication: Interactions with the mass media. Science, 321, 204-205.
Google Scholar
Peters H. P., Brossard D., de Cheveigné S., Dunwoody S., Kallfass M., Miller S., Tsuchida S. (2008b). The science-media interface: It’s time to reconsider. Science Communication, 30, 266-276.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. (2004, June 6). News audiences increasingly politicized. Washington, DC: Author.
Google Scholar
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. (2008, August 17). Key news audiences now blend online and traditional sources. Washington, DC: Author.
Google Scholar
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. (2010, March). Understanding the participatory news consumer. Washington, DC: Author.
Google Scholar
Revkin A. (2005, June 8). Bush aide edited climate reports. New York Times, p. A1.
Google Scholar
Revkin A. (2006, January 29). Climate expert said NASA tried to silence him. New York Times, p. A1.
Google Scholar
Revkin A. (2009, November 20). Hacked e-mail is new fodder for climate dispute. New York Times, p. A1.
Google Scholar
Rich R. F., Merrick K. R. (2007, Spring). Use and misuse of science: Global climate change and the Bush administration. Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, 14, 223-252.
Google Scholar
Rosenthal E. (2009, February 28). Obama’s backing raising hopes for climate pact. New York Times, p. A1.
Google Scholar
Rosenthal E., Kanter J. (2007, November 19). Grim report on climate is described as too rosy. New York Times, p. A4.
Google Scholar
Sabato L. J. (2000). Feeding frenzy: Attack journalism and American politics. Baltimore, MD: Lanham.
Google Scholar
Schwartz M. (1977). Review of the book American men and women of science. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 65, 305-306.
Google Scholar
Soroka S., Farnsworth S. J., Young L., Lawlor A. (2009). Environment and energy policy: Comparing reports from U.S. and Canadian network news. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Toronto, Canada.
Google Scholar
Speth J. G. (2005). The single greatest threat: The United States and global climate disruption. Harvard International Review, Summer, 18-22.
Google Scholar
Stewart T. R. (1991). Scientists’ uncertainty and disagreement about global climate change: A psychological perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 26, 565-573.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Trumbo C. (1995, August). Longitudinal modeling of public issues: An application of the agenda-setting process to the issue of global warming. Journalism and Mass Communication Monographs, 152, 1-57.
Google Scholar
Wilkins L., Patterson P. (1991). Science as symbol: The media chills the greenhouse effect. In Wilkins L., Patterson P. (Eds.), Risky business: Communication issues of science, risk and public policy (pp. 159-176). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Google Scholar
Wilson F. (2005, January 12). Crichton responds to his eco-critics. Philadelphia Inquirer, p. B1.
Google Scholar

Biographies

Stephen J. Farnsworth is professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Mary Washington, where he directs the University’s Center of Leadership and Media Studies. He is the author or coauthor of four books on media, politics, and public opinion and is also a former daily newspaper journalist.
S. Robert Lichter is professor of communication at George Mason University, where he also directs the Center for Media and Public Affairs and the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS). He is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on media and politics.

Cite article

Cite article

Cite article

OR

Download to reference manager

If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice

Share options

Share

Share this article

Share with email
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK
Share on social media

Share access to this article

Sharing links are not relevant where the article is open access and not available if you do not have a subscription.

For more information view the SAGE Journals article sharing page.

Information, rights and permissions

Information

Published In

Volume 34, Issue 4
Pages: 435 - 459
Article first published online: December 20, 2011
Issue published: August 2012

Keywords

  1. climate change
  2. environmental communication
  3. environmental journalism
  4. media credibility
  5. media portrayal of science

Rights and permissions

© 2012 SAGE Publications.
Request permissions for this article.

History

Published online: December 20, 2011
Issue published: August 2012

Authors

Affiliations

Stephen J. Farnsworth
University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA, USA
View all articles by this author
S. Robert Lichter
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
View all articles by this author

Notes

Stephen J. Farnsworth, Center of Leadership and Media Studies, University of Mary Washington, 1301 College Ave, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, USA Email: [email protected]

Metrics and citations

Metrics

Journals metrics

This article was published in Science Communication.

VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICS

Article usage*

Total views and downloads: 861

*Article usage tracking started in December 2016

Altmetric

See the impact this article is making through the number of times it’s been read, and the Altmetric Score.
Learn more about the Altmetric Scores


Articles citing this one

Web of Science: 12 view articles Opens in new tab

Crossref: 16

  1. Between Moral and Climate Crisis
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  2. Climate Feedback: Wissenschaft kommentiert Journalismus und entwickelt...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  3. Analyzing reputation of Swiss universities on Twitter–The role of stak...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  4. Frame Analysis: Newspaper Coverage of Kenya's Oil Exploration in the P...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  5. Metaphors of Climate Science in Three Genres: Research Articles, Educa...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  6. Reputation von Hochschulen
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  7. An Inconvenient Truth —Is It Still Effective at Familiar...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  8. Communicating science in public controversies: Strategic consideration...
    Go to citation Crossref Google ScholarPub Med
  9. Cinematic climate change, a promising perspective on climate change co...
    Go to citation Crossref Google ScholarPub Med
  10. Simple Messages Help Set the Record Straight about Scientific Agreemen...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  11. Scientific Consensus, Public Perception and Religious Beliefs – A Case...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  12. Scientific Consensus, Public Perception and Religious Beliefs – A Case...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  13. Oil depletion or a market problem? A framing analysis of peak oil in T...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  14. Perceived Impact of a Documentary Film...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  15. Framing responsibility in climate change discourse: Ethnocentric attri...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  16. An integrated model of communication influence on beliefs
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar

Figures and tables

Figures & Media

Tables

View Options

Get access

Access options

If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:

Alternatively, view purchase options below:

Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.

Subscribe to this journal

Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.

Start 2 week free trial
Need help?

View options

PDF/ePub

View PDF/ePub

Full Text

View Full Text
View full textDownload PDF

Also from SAGE Publishing