The evolution of news coverage about climate change as a health issue: A decadal analysis in China, India, and the USA

Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health

Climate change harms human health and wellbeing in many ways, while many climate solutions have profound public health benefits. Prior research has illuminated how news media engage with and shape the public’s understanding of climate change. Yet, few studies have examined how news media report on climate change as a public health issue. It is vital to examine news reporting on the topic, as this coverage helps shape public engagement with climate change as a health crisis.

In this article, the researchers assess both the frequency and the framing of newspaper coverage in the world’s three leading carbon-emitting countries – China, India and the United States. Although the study found some cross-national differences in the prevalence and type of reporting, the most striking finding is how little attention the health implications of climate receives. Despite well-documented links between climate change and health and the demonstrable efficacy of this framing for enhancing public engagement, only a tiny fraction of news coverage connects the two.

Out of 22 million articles published over the past decade in the three countries, just 0.007% focused on climate change as a public health issue. When coverage did occur, articles most often highlighted the health impacts of extreme weather, heat, poor air quality and food insecurity. Reporting on vulnerable groups, potential solutions to the crisis and views of health experts were much less frequent.