Hey TV News: We're in a Climate Crisis

Following natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, and floods, the amount of news coverage that mentions climate change has actually fallen in recent years. According to Grist, since 2021, global media coverage of climate change has dropped 38 percent. Despite this lack of coverage, the science is clear that this and other disasters are far more catastrophic because of a warming climate.

Almost half of Americans get their news from television, yet major news outlets fail to name the connection between extreme weather events and climate change.

Climate coverage on major US broadcast TV networks was down 35 percent in 2025, despite an increase in storms, fires, floods, and heatwaves. Responsible journalism must tell the truth about what's driving unnatural disasters.

Big Oil has known for decades that fossil fuels threaten our future, while doing everything they can to keep raking in their profits. They've pushed news outlets to keep the climate crisis out of the media, and squash coverage of their responsibility for it. Now, they've bought an ally in the Trump administration, as it pressures the media and other institutions to fall in line.

TV news needs to cover the facts, not corporate propaganda. Will you ask media CEOs to ensure their coverage of storms, heat waves, and other unnatural disasters connects the dots to human-caused climate change?

Personal messages make a big difference! Add a sentence or two about your experience of climate impacts to make your letter more powerful.

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Follow the science in climate disaster coverage

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The summer of 2025 was one of the hottest on record. The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest on record. In July of 2023, NBCU News Group Standards Department issued guidance that all platforms must now include "the clear scientific connections between this summer's extraordinary weather conditions and the effects of human-caused climate change." I applaud that effort and urge NBC to follow this guidance and set a precedent for other networks to issue a similar policy. Unfortunately, far too often, news coverage of storms and extreme weather events fails to mention human-caused climate change. In fact, mention of climate change dropped by 25 percent between 2023 and 2024 despite there being a rise in unnatural disasters. The science has been clear for decades that unmitigated climate change is making heat waves, fires, floods, hurricanes, and other weather events more severe, frequent, and longer-lasting. Further, as the Guardian reported, "Scientifically accurate reporting would not only link this extreme weather to the climate crisis, it would note that climate change is caused primarily by burning oil, gas and coal… Responsible journalism should tell the truth about what's driving these terrible storms, fires and famine." Approximately 45 percent of Americans get most of their news from television. Your reporting has broad and far-reaching influence. Please institute a policy for all staff to follow the best available science and provide context to your viewers on why these events and unnatural disasters are happening. Thank you.

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