James Painter quoted on how climate change is portrayed on TV news

Television news tends to focus on disasters such as droughts or floods in covering scientific findings about climate change, an approach that may exaggerate pessimism about the subject, according to a new study. The review of coverage by leading television news shows in Australia, Brazil, Britain, China, Germany and India found that they most often framed reports about the science of global warming in terms of crisis.

The report, by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said disaster scenarios were played up over themes of scientific uncertainty, risks of global warming or opportunities for solving the problems. ‘For television, which is driven by pictures and the need for strong, engaging narratives in a short space of time, disaster-type approaches are going to be very attractive,’ author James Painter told Reuters.

You can read the full article (22 September) by clicking here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/22/climatechange-media-idUKL6N0RN3NY20140922

This story was also picked up in the Daily Mail and the Chicago Tribune.