2 It may be that audiences are more interested in news about the topic when they are not so polarised and can clearly see the negative effects of extreme weather where they live. Many countries have witnessed extreme weather events linked to climate change Greece and Portugal, for instance, have suffered from devastating wildfires in recent years, and Chile continues to suffer from severe drought, which has made climate change ‘easy to see’. REUTERS Rodrigo Garrido.Īnother influence on our figures may be the impacts of climate change itself. In Greece, the difference in the proportion of people on the political left versus right who are interested in climate change news is only 16pp, while in Portugal it is just 10pp.Ī cow is seen on land that used to be filled with water, at the Aculeo Lagoon in Paine, Chile January 9, 2019. We can see this dynamic play out in Greece and Portugal. On the other hand, in markets with the highest levels of interest, there is less left–right polarisation. For instance, in the US – the market with the lowest level of interest in climate change news – the gap between those on the political left and right is 41pp, with low interest among those on the right driving down the overall interest figure. In markets with greater differences in interest between those on the political left versus right, there is less overall interest in climate change news. Perhaps surprisingly, they also tend to be older.Įxamining what is driving some of these regional and country-level differences in interest, we find that one factor is polarisation.
At a broad level across markets, those who are more interested in climate change news tend to have higher levels of income and education. Interest is lower in Northern and Western European markets such as Norway (33%) and France (36%), along with the United States (30%). Just over half of respondents in Greece (53%), Portugal (53%), Chile (52%), and the Philippines (52%) say they are interested in news about climate change and the environment.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple | Google Interest in climate change newsĪt an overall level, our data show that interest in climate change news is highest in several Latin American, Southern European, and Asia-Pacific markets. In this chapter, following on from our examination of the topic in 2020, 1 we explore audience attitudes and behaviours as they relate to climate change news, providing insights which may help newsrooms in their thinking about how to cover such a complex issue, as well as how to generate audience interest. It is also frequently politicised, with audiences polarised on the topic. The story can seem intractable, depressing, and often difficult to understand. But when it comes to news about this topic, media outlets often struggle to garner audience attention. Climate change is one of the defining issues – if not the defining issue – of our era.
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