Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Global Warming: Media Coverage of Climate Change



How significant is global warning? What does it really mean? How many people believe it exists? These questions have been asked about global warming and climate change for the better part of the last three decades. Media portrays global warming in differing ways. However these questions already have a definite answer with solid evidence to support its impact on our planet.
 
When looking at how media portrays global warming the first thing that comes to mind is certain new programs portraying of the discussions about global warming. Every so often when the media begins a discussion about global warming it is always presented between two people with differing arguments. When looking into the topic of global warming and the research behind the topic I was astounded to find out that 97% of climate scientists believe that global warming exists. This statistic is a huge determination of the consensus of the scientific community. Discussions about climate change in certain news programs or even radio talk shows always presents a discussion between 2 individuals one discussing the existence of climate change and its immediate impact of it on our society and someone denying is existence completely. 1 on 1 discussion does not accurately represent the publics, or the Scientifics community’s opinion on the topic. When individuals view a form of media and witness two people discussing the two sides of an argument they subconsciously think that it is a 50 – 50 argument when clearly data about who believes each side of the argument says otherwise. With a 1-1 discussion the importance and global warming’s effects cannot be accurately represented. A better discussion would be 97-3 in favor of global warming’s existence. NASA’s climate sector presents multiple studies, which supports the opinion of the majority of the scientific community. 

Media in itself should not be the sole indicator of what the majority of the public believes. Rapid climate changes existence cannot be disputed and will remain to be a very important topic. Medias portrayal of the topic of science change gives their audience an inaccurate understanding of the topic and its significance. If there is to be any resonance with the audience of media it would be vital for media to have discussions that accurately represent the known data and the understanding of climate change.
           

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