Steering the Climate Discourse: Legacy News, Social Media, Advertising, and Public Relations

Media are conduits for the amplification of climate information and disinformation. Systematic evaluations are needed of how cross-national and cross-platform tactics across newspapers, television, radio, social media, and other online modes of communication shape climate engagement and action. This chapter identifies three primary channels through which climate obstruction in the media occurs: (1) news coverage and journalistic practices, such as so-called “balanced” coverage; (2) industry-funded public relations, strategic information, and influence campaigns; and (3) social media discourses and structures. Following a review of political-economic factors and networks of actors producing intentional disinformation in the media, the authors discuss the changing nature of journalism, evolving climate contrarianism, and impacts of disinformation. The chapter then elaborates on common disinformation-generating tactics, narratives, and frames in each area. Finally, the authors examine information-based and action-based efforts to counter climate obstruction in the media, highlighting the need for corporate accountability, enhanced public awareness, investigative processes, and the need to rapidly attribute and correct misleading content.