J5.1 Broadcast Meteorologists and Local Climate Change Reporting: Preliminary Results of a National Survey

Friday, 12 June 2015: 8:45 AM
304 (Raleigh Convention Center)
Ed Maibach, George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA; and R. Drost, R. Mazzone, T. Myers, B. Placky, H. Cullen, R. Ryan, J. Witte, K. Seitter, S. W. Harned, B. Ward, K. Hayhoe, S. J. Hassol, J. Lazo, M. Slater, F. Niepold, D. Herring, and N. Gardiner

Handout (9.5 MB)

Broadcast meteorologists are well positioned to educate the public about the local implications of global climate change: they have regular access to a very large and diverse cross-section of the American public; their viewers trust them as a source of information about climate change; and they have excellent science communication skills. Prior research has shown that many broadcast meteorologists are potentially interested in reporting on climate change, although fewer actually do.

In January and February 2015, to assess broadcast meteorologists' perspectives on and experiences with reporting on the local impacts of climate change, we attempted to survey every known person currently working in broadcast meteorology (i.e., a full census). We developed the list of prospective participants through an intensive two-step process: (1) Cision, a commercially-available database of news personnel was used to identify the initial list; and (2) the website of every local news station in the United States was manually searched to verify the names generated by Cision. This process yielded 2,162 names and corresponding email addresses, which became the universe of news professionals we sought to survey.

The research questions we sought to answer with the survey included:

• What proportion of broadcast meteorologists are convinced that, regardless of causation, climate change – based on the AMS definition – is occurring?

• Approximately what proportion of climate change over the past 50 years is seen as being human-caused versus caused by natural events?

• What climate change impacts, if any, do weathercasters feel have occurred in their area over the past 50 years?

• What climate change impacts, if any, do weathercasters feel will occur in their area over the next 50 years?

• To what extent can additional climate change be avoided if mitigation measures are taken?

• To what extent can human health, agriculture, water supplies, transportation systems, and homes and building can be protected over the next 50 years if adaptation measures are taken?

• To what extent do weathercasters see it as appropriate for TV weathercasters to cover climate change on-air, online, in social media and in community presentations?

• To what extent are weathercasters personally interested in covering climate change on-air, online, in social media and in community presentations?

• To what extent do weathercasters feel their news directors would support their decision to report on climate change?

• To what extent do weathercasters feel their audience is interested in learning about the local impacts of climate change?

• To what extent have weathercasters covered climate change on-air, online, in social media, on radio, in newspaper columns, at school visits, and in other community events?

• To what extent have weathercasters experienced obstacles to reporting on climate change?

• To what extent are weathercasters interested in reporting on – and learning more about – various climate change topics including extreme heat events, hurricanes, extreme precipitation and/or flooding, drought and water shortage, impact on crop and livestock productions, impact on air quality, sea-level rise and storm surge, wildfires, impact on local wildlife, impact on human health?

• To what extent are weathercasters aware of, and perceived utility in, the National Climate Assessment?

As a participation incentive, respondents are being entered into a raffle to win one of three free registrations to the AMS Broadcast Meteorology or NWA Annual Conference, or they can instead have a $10 donation made to the AMS or NWA student fund.

As of February 9th, 396 respondents had completed at least a portion of the survey, and 329 had completed the entire survey (an interim survey response rate of 18%, and an interim survey completion rate of 15%). One additional reminder/request will be sent prior to closing the survey on February 19th.

Analysis of this data will be conducted in March, and this abstract will be revised to include key findings in April. The full results of the study will be presented at the meeting in June.

Findings from this study will provide a broader, deeper, and hopefully more representative understanding than prior research on how broadcast meteorologists are approaching the issue of climate change and reporting its local impacts.

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