Reporters Aren't Drawing The Connection Between Climate Change And Wildfires

Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - 15:30 in Earth & Climate

Bambi Bucket Drop Nebraska National Guard crewmembers of Company C 2nd-135th General Support Aviation Battalion dump water from a Bambi bucket attached to a Black Hawk helicopter onto flames of the High Park Fire in Larimer County, Colo. Staff Sgt. Tate Petersen, Company C, 2nd-135th General Support Aviation Support A Media Matters report shows just 4 percent of recent TV articles and 9 percent of print articles mentioned climate change when reporting on wildfires. Climate change is a major contributing factor to wildfires, like the blaze in Arizona that killed 19 firefighters this week. But is that connection being made in news reports? A new Media Matters report examined how frequently recent print and TV reports from major outlets--CNN, NBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, and others--mentioned climate change when they reported on wildfires. The answer: not very frequently. Between April and July, just 4 percent of TV reports and 9...

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