Watching Fox News Increases Distrust In Climate Science
Petermann Glacier Breakup NASA Conservative media makes people distrust scientists, and in turn, doubt the existence of climate change. Science has done a good job of documenting the great divide between liberals and conservatives on the issue of climate change. Several studies have found that watching conservative media outlets, particularly Fox News, makes viewers less likely to accept that global warming is occurring or that it's caused by human activity. A recent study from the journal Public Understanding of Science probes the underlying factors behind this, finding that conservative media like Fox News undermines viewers' trust in scientists, leading to weaker beliefs in the science of global warming. Led by University of Arizona communication professor Jay Hmielowski, the paper explains that "different media outlets help to cue audiences as to whether a particular institution or set of institutional actors, such as scientists, share a person's values and are thus...