Abstract
This chapter outlines the ethical issues in science and climate change reporting. It discussed what role journalism and media should play in the global challenge that unfolds as humanity adapts to a changing climate caused by anthropogenic climate change.
The chapter begins by outlining the ethical obligations journalists have in accessing and communicating science. How there is a long-standing understanding and journalistic practice of how science should be identified, summarized, curated and reported. The chapter then moves on to illustrate the importance of journalists critically understanding the scientific peer review process, as illustrated by two case studies.
In the conclusion, the global media ethics framework will be applied to science and climate change reporting. The key concepts considered will be transparency, audience engagement and inclusion.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Enquiry into the Limits of the Possible, 3.
- 2.
Oreskes, Merchants of Doubt.
- 3.
Boykoff, Who Speaks for the Climate? Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change.
- 4.
Boykoff and Boykoff, “Balance as Bias.”
- 5.
Grant, The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages.
- 6.
Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge.
- 7.
Lewenstein, “Was There Really a Popular Science Boom?”
- 8.
Robbins, “Science and the Media—An Uncomfortable Fit,” The Independent, paragraph 3.
- 9.
Editorial, “Wakefield’s Article linking MMR Vaccine and Autism was Fraudulent,” The British Medical Journal.
- 10.
Novella, “The Lancet retracts Andrew Wakefield’s Article.”
- 11.
Boykoff and Boykoff, Global Environmental Change.
- 12.
Oreskes, Merchants of Doubt.
- 13.
Chubb, Media Meets Climate.
- 14.
Chubb, Power Failure.
- 15.
Head and Alford, “Wicked Problems: Implications for Public Policy and Management.”
- 16.
Asayama et al., “Who Captures the Voice of the Climate?”
- 17.
Lidberg, “Australian media coverage of two pivotal climate change summits.”
- 18.
Reporter A and reporter D, interviews.
- 19.
Lidberg, “Australian Media Coverage of Two Pivotal Climate Change Summits.”
- 20.
Chubb, Media Meets Climate.
- 21.
Bradshaw, “‘Calm down, it’s just Facebook.’”
- 22.
Grynbaum, “Trump Calls the News Media the ‘Enemy of the American People.’”
- 23.
Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions.
References
Asayama S, Lidberg J, Cloteau A, Comby JB, Chubb P (2017) Who captures the voice of the climate? Policy networks and the political role of media in Australia, France and Japan. In: Media and global climate knowledge - journalism and the IPCC. Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Boykoff M (2011) Who speaks for the climate? Making sense of media reporting on climate change. Cambridge University Press, New York
Boykoff M, Boykoff J (2004) Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Glob Environ Chang 14:125–136
Bradshaw E (2019) “Calm down, it’s just Facebook”: transparent, responsive, and interactive Facebook audience engagement in Australian journalism. School of media, film and journalism. PhD. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Chubb P (2012) Really, fundamentally wrong: media coverage of the business campaign against the Australian carbon tax. In: Eide E, Kunelius R (eds) Media meets climate – the global challenge for journalism. Nordicom, Gothenburg, pp 179–194
Chubb P (2014) Power failure: the inside story of climate politics under rudd and gillard. Black Inc, Melbourne
Clarke AC (1973) Profiles of the future: an enquiry into the limits of the possible. Popular Library, London
Editorial (2011) Wakefield’s article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent. Br Med J 342(7452)
Golinski J (2001) Making natural knowledge: constructivism and the history of science. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Grant E (1996) The foundations of modern science in the middle ages: their religious, institutional and intellectual contexts. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Grynbaum M (2017) Trump calls the news media the ‘enemy of the American people’. New York Times
Hawking S (2018) Brief answers to the big questions. John Murray, London
Head B, Alford J (2013) Wicked problems: implications for public policy and management. Adm Soc 20(10):1–29
Lewenstein B (1987) Was there really a popular science ‘boom’? Sci Technol Hum Values 12(2):29–41
Lidberg J (2018) Australian media coverage of two pivotal climate change summits: a comparative study between COP15 and COP21. Pac Journal Rev 24(1):70–86
Novella S (2010) The Lancet retracts Andrew Wakefield’s article. Science-Based Medicine, Feb. 3, 2010. At https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/lancet-retracts-wakefield-article/
Oreskes N, Conway E (2010) Merchants of doubt. Bloomsbury Press, London
Reporter A (2016a) Interview COP21
Reporter D (2016b) Interview COP21
Robbins S (2011) Science and the media – an uncomfortable fit. The Independent, Sept. 27, 2011
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lidberg, J. (2021). Science Communication: The “Weight of Evidence” Approach and Climate Change. In: Ward, S.J.A. (eds) Handbook of Global Media Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32103-5_36
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32103-5_36
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32102-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32103-5
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)