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Climate change is one of the most pressing issues that surround the global community. We are constantly reminded of it’s presence through natural disasters such as the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and the 2004 Tsunami that swept through the western coast of India and much of Sri Lanka. Throughout these disasters and other climate change related occurrences, the media has always been present, reporting on the situation.
However what exactly is the media “reporting”?
Concepts such as “ global citizen” and “carbon footprint”, etc, are regurgitated by the media on regular occasions. More often than not, media sources will report in such a way, that appeals to emotional ties of the audience, rather than the facts of the matter.
In fact, the media has been able to shape the audiences vision of climate change, through the “debate-like” format that it has been placed in, through the use of “False Balance”. The term ‘false balance’ (in regards to climate change) is used to describe the tendency (particularly in Australian media) to provide equal coverage of climate change scientists and to the skeptics. This can be conveyed as a form of informational bias, the skeptics containing far fewer numbers than the researchers, yet having equal say; amplifies their views. Ward describing the media occurrence, “Accuracy should outdo balance in this case so that one perspective get 90% of the column and this is based on the standards of evidence, and another around 5 or 10%” (Ward 2009, p.14).
The ecology of increasingly influential social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr…. Etc, are heavily influential in creating an online convergence of entertainment over fact. With 250 million tweets per day (3000 per second) and 55 million Facebook status updates per day, the credibility of each individual source becomes increasingly suspect; being described as “A Blizzard of Spin” (l. Davis 2002).
It is clear that Media and journalists alike are responsible for the distribution information relating to climate change. However with such a “false balance” prevalent throughout the media orientated entities, that simply is not possible. Change is needed and needed very soon.