by Miyase Christensen, Nina Möllers and Libby Robin, Le Monde diplomatique, France – The media cover individual, preferably spectacular, events but ignore long-term issues like global warming, which most threaten us. There was much media coverage of climate change early in the 2000s, with events like sea ice loss in the Arctic making the headlines. But disaster narratives can only be sustained for so long. Soon after the UN’s Copenhagen talks in 2009, there was a sudden silence, with coverage in 2010 down 70% on the previous year. Fossil fuel lobbyists and others took advantage of the need for constant, instant news to silence the issue.
Leave a Reply