FACTS & DATA • APRIL 17TH, 2024
“Climate Change” vs. “Global Warming”: What Do Left and Right Media Report?
Climate Change, Environment, Media Bias
By Kristen Xiao
Headlines about climate change in 2023 differed from Left- and Right-rated news media.
AllSides analyzed 100 articles on climate change from 20 outlets rated Left, Lean Left, Lean Right, and Right, according to the AllSides Media Bias Chart™. We found that outlets across the political spectrum diverge in their word choice on the same climate-related news, and reflect polarized interpretations of news events within intentional choice of phrases and focuses.
Words News Outlets Use to Report Climate Change
The left and the right media vary in their coverage of the climate and climate change. While outlets on the left and right mostly agree on the term “climate change” to describe the environmental phenomenon in question, outlets on the right use the term “global warming” more often than climate change. We noted that the divergence in the term usage does not necessarily reflect a disagreement on whether climate change exists, but rather on its causes and consequences.
Outlets on the right often connect the term “global warming” with the term “narrative,” especially in reports of the Maui wildfires in 2023.
AllSides looked at the number of times words like “global warming,” “climate crisis,” “climate activists,” and “climate denial” were used in 100 climate-related news articles in 20 outlets on the left and right. The percentage of words used in each outlet in the analysis are as follows — dark pink denotes more frequent usage:
https://www.allsides.com/blog/climate-change-global-warming-earth-media-bias
