A sceptical climate
Media coverage of climate change and climate science in Australia
How Australia's mainstream media covered the topic of carbon policy and how it reported climate science in 2011–2012 was analysed over a period of 6 months by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism. Both reports are now available.
Some of Australia's leading newspapers were so negative in their reporting of the Gillard government's carbon policy that it was fair to say that they've campaigned against it rather than covered it according to a report by Australian Centre for Independent Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney.
The first of a two-part analysis of Australian press coverage of climate change, A Sceptical Climate, has found that between February and July 2011 negative coverage of the carbon policy across 10 major newspapers outweighed positive coverage by 73 per cent to 27 per cent. The second report, 'Climate Science in Australian newspapers' was released October 2013 and raises the question of 'what is balanced reporting of climate science?'
The reports are Part 1 - Climate Change Policy and Part 2 - Climate Science in Australian Newspapers
This project aims to provide more information about the quality of reporting on climate change. How well is the Australian media performing its role in reporting the issue of climate change and climate science? Are Australian audiences receiving adequate and accurate information? Is the selection and treatment of sources and the representation of viewpoints and evidence fair, accurate and balanced? Does the media provide a forum for debate and a range of sources?