In Italy, advertisements from polluting companies are doubling while the media talk about the climate crisis little, badly and without indicating the causes

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

In recent months the main Italian media have dedicated less space to the environmental issue, in the meantime the advertisements of polluting companies have doubled and the climate crisis is described as if it had no culprits, demonstrating the influence exercised by the fossil fuel industry on the world of information.

This is what emerges from the new relationship that Greenpeace Italia commissioned from the Pavia Observatory, a research institute specialized in communication analysis.The study examined, in the period between September and December 2022, how the climate crisis was reported by the five most widely circulated national newspapers (Corriere della Sera, Republic, Il Sole 24 Ore, Future, The Press), from the evening news programs of Rai, Mediaset and La7 and from a sample of in-depth television programmes.

The research completes the monitoring of media coverage of climate change started by the organization in January 2022, and which will continue throughout 2023, as part of the "Stranger Green" campaign, against greenwashing and misinformation on the climate crisis.The results of previous quarters can be consulted here And here. 

“The last months of 2022 confirm the disconcerting indifference of the Italian media and politicians towards the most serious environmental emergency of our era”, declares Giancarlo Sturloni, communications manager of Greenpeace Italia.“All this will not change as long as major media outlets continue to depend on advertising from polluting companies, and as long as the political class prefers to pander to the interests of the fossil fuel industry rather than those of citizens.We live in a country where companies have an enormous influence on the media narrative of the climate crisis, and where a giant like Eni can dictate energy policies to the government."

A climate crisis that is poorly reported, poorly reported and without those responsible

As far as paper newspapers are concerned, from 1 September to 31 December 2022 there were 886 articles talking about the climate crisis:three out of four do so explicitly, but in half of these the issue is only mentioned.The number decreased compared to the previous four months, with an average of 2.5 articles per day, compared to 2.8 in the period from 1 May to 31 August 2022.The peak was recorded on the occasion of the Cop27 on the climate in Sharm el-Sheikh, which was held from 6 to 18 November, and the flood on the island of Ischia on 26 November.The Corriere della Sera And The Press it is the newspapers that have contributed the most to this negative variation, while the Only 24 hours attests to a countertrend, recording a slight increase in articles dedicated to the environmental issue.

As regards the occasions in which the climate crisis is explicitly discussed, political events come first (in 37% of cases), followed by economic and industrial events (21% of cases).Extreme natural phenomena represent 7%, then there is the presentation of data, research, reports (just 6%), awareness initiatives (still only 6%) and environmental activism and protests (a laughable 4 %).Also interesting are the data on whether or not the articles refer to the causes of the climate crisis:in 85% of cases, the reasons that brought us here are not mentioned.However, when they are reported, we mainly talk about emissions of Co2 and climate-altering gases (55% of cases) and fossil fuels (43% of cases), while in very rare cases we focus on public policies, cited in only 3% of the articles analyzed.Only in 62 articles are the subjects responsible for the climate crisis explicitly indicated:these are mainly political institutions or subjects (42 cases), rarely oil companies (10 cases) or other companies (8).

At the same time, the space occupied in newspapers by advertisements from the fossil fuel industry and automotive, airline and cruise companies has increased:the average is over six advertisements per week, almost one per day, approximately double compared to the previous quarter.The influence of polluting industrial sectors on the world of information also emerges from the analysis of the subjects who have the most voice in the story of the climate crisis:in first place are politicians and international institutions (21%), especially by virtue of Cop27, followed by companies (15%), which surpass environmental associations (14%), experts (10%) and politicians and national institutions (10%).

COP27 in Egypt:compromises are worth little against the most destructive capitalism

Based on what was found from the investigation, Greenpeace has updated the ranking of the main Italian newspapers, evaluated on the basis of five parameters:how much they talk about the climate crisis, whether fossil fuels are cited among the causes, how much voice do polluting companies have, how much space is given to their advertising and whether the editorial staff is transparent with respect to the funding they receive.This last parameter was assessed with a questionnaire sent to the directors of the five newspapers, to which they only partially responded Future.Considering the average of the five parameters, only Future exceeds the passing mark (3.4 points out of 5), while Il Sole 24 Ore has a score of 2.6, The Press of 2.4, The Corriere della Sera of 2.2 e The Republic of 2.

Denialism finds less and less space on TV

As regards television, there has been a slight increase in the coverage of environmental issues by prime time news:overall, the climate crisis was discussed in less than 3% of the news broadcast (it represented 2.5% in the previous four months).TG1 and TG3 are the news programs that have dedicated the most space to the issue, while TG La7 brings up the rear, with just 1.4% of the services broadcast.The causes of the climate crisis in the news are explained only in 7.5% of cases, and on one occasion space was given to denialist positions (there were eight cases in the previous four months).

As for in-depth television programs, they have been analysed One morning, A morning with the family, One morning summer And White paper (Rai), Morning 5, Morning news And Fourth Republic (Mediaset), The Air that blows, Half past eight And On the air (La7).In 116 of the 450 episodes monitored, the climate crisis was discussed, equal to 26% of the total, one point less than in the previous four months.The show that talked about it the most is One morning (Rai1), least of all The Air that blows And Half past eight (La7).In 36% of cases, attention to the climate crisis is generated by climatic or natural events, and in 59% of broadcasts it focuses on the national context.

“The lack of attention to the problem shown by the programs of A7 reflects an editorial line that favors the story of politics", writes Greenpeace, "in which the climate crisis, as we also documented during the last electoral campaign, is a very neglected topic".In fact, in the first 15 days of the electoral campaign for the political elections of 25 September 2022, the climate crisis was mentioned less than 0.5% of politicians' statements reported by the main television news programs.

The story of the climate crisis abroad, between catastrophism and "false balance"

Second an analysis conducted in 127 newspapers in 59 countries by the Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO), from 2006 to 2021 the frequency with which the media talk about climate change has grown significantly and the language is also changing.Today, more intense words and phrases are used to describe the phenomenon, and the incidence of terms such as "catastrophe" and "emergency" has increased:a lexicon that suggests an acute and episodic problem, beyond human responsibility, not an issue to be addressed structurally with targeted policies.Meanwhile, terms like “global warming” and “greenhouse effect” are becoming less and less frequent.“Our language reflects the realities of our world,” explained Max Boykoff, who coordinated the research.“Climate change is no longer just a question of scientific information:now it is included in the pages of politics, economics, society and culture.Greater attention from the media, however, should be seen in the context of an increase in commitment at civil society level."

Why it is difficult to communicate the climate crisis

Scientists and politicians increasingly use the language of risk to talk about the environmental crisis.“Some researchers say that highlighting the risks associated with climate change, rather than the uncertainties, can create a more favorable environment for policymakers and a stronger public response,” writes James Painter of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University in his book Climate change in the media. “Because much of the climate change debate is about the future, it inevitably involves a degree of uncertainty about the timing, pace and severity of possible impacts, as well as options for managing and avoiding them.But uncertainty can be a barrier to decision making.One of the arguments in favor of using the language of risk is that it distances public debate from the idea that decisions should be postponed until conclusive evidence or absolute certainty is obtained (a criterion that may never be satisfied), towards timely action taken on the basis of an analysis of the costs and risks of different choices (including doing nothing)”.

Climate crisis and energy transition:the new denialist tactics dismantled one by one

At the same time, especially in the Anglo-Saxon media, a discussion is underway on the so-called "bothsidesism", in Italian "false equilibrium":an attitude whereby journalists strive to present both sides of an issue, even in cases where the most credible sources are all on the same side.According to a recent study by Northwestern University, this approach can damage the public's ability to distinguish real news from fake news, and lead to doubts about the scientific consensus on climate change.“The media still gives voice to the opinions of people who do not believe there is any reason to be alarmed about the environment,” said David Rapp, psychologist and professor at Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy, among the authors of the research.“This makes the problem less serious in the eyes of readers than it actually is.”

Climate change:media and politics have failed in the face of the biggest story of our times

While the media continues to distort, in one direction or another, the debate on the climate issue, the emergency does not stop.According to the Global risk report 2023, the survey carried out by the World Economic Forum through the consultation of 1,200 experts, the climate is the main threat to the world for the next decade.The increase in extreme climate events occurring simultaneously in different parts of the world threatens the ecosystem and our society:second a study published on March 10 by the magazine Science Advances, the frequency of such events is destined to grow in the coming years due to man-made changes.Climates in different regions are interconnected, and climate phenomena such as El Niño can simultaneously cause extreme phenomena in very distant regions.

Italy is one of the countries particularly affected by climate change:in 2022 our country recorded 310 extreme events, with an increase of 55% compared to 2021, which caused 29 deaths and damage from north to south.They are the data of climate risk map created by the CittàClima Observatory of Legambiente:droughts, hailstorms, tornadoes and floods have increased significantly, but landslides, fires and heat waves also continue to raise the level of risk.

Preview image via Greenpeace