Union of Concerned Scientists

CNN climate coverage better, but room for improvement.

CNN Can, and Should, Do Better

Tell CNN it’s time to stop pretending there’s a debate about established climate science.

ACTION ALERT
Urge CNN to Debate Climate Policy, Not Climate Science

Earlier this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists released an analysis of cable news coverage of climate change—the results were disappointing. For instance, CNN aired misleading statements about climate science in 30 percent of its climate coverage.

Thanks to your help, we called on CNN to do better and we are seeing improvement. On May 6, CNN correspondent Miles O’Brien put it bluntly while discussing climate change on The Situation Room: “I think we have gotten to the point it’s almost like the cigarette debate, where it is given—it’s an assumption that it is happening.” It was great to see a correspondent standing up for climate science.

But that very same day, CNN’s Crossfire hosted a misleading debate about climate science with Bill Nye and economist Nicolas Loris, who works for the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that has taken money from oil companies. Loris tried to discount the link between climate change and extreme weather by ignoring the evidence linking climate change to coastal flooding, extreme heat, and changes in precipitation.

CNN can, and should, do better. Tell CNN it’s time to stop pretending there’s a debate about established climate science. They can and should do more to hold people accountable for making misleading statements about climate science.