Media (mis)communication on the science of climate change

Climate change has been widely reported as a scientific and environmental issue. In six months' news coverage of climate change in New Zealand, reporting of basic scientific facts was overwhelmingly accurate. News sources rated over 80% of stories no worse than slightly inaccurate. However, one story in six contained significant misreporting. Some stories overstated the advance of climate change or confused ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect. Scientific sources rated coverage overall worse than their own individual judgments showed it to be. Examination of ways in which stories came about leads to recommendations on how scientists and journalists can work together to better inform the public about climate change.