Fox News found to be a major driving force behind global warming denial | Dana Nuccitelli

American consumers of conservative media like Fox News distrust climate scientists and don't believe the planet is warmingA new study published in the journal Public Understanding of Science (PDF available here) surveyed a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 Americans in 2008 and 2011 about their media consumption and beliefs about climate change. The results suggest that conservative media consumption (specifically Fox News and Rush Limbaugh) decreases viewer trust in scientists, which in turn decreases belief that global warming is happening. In contrast, consumption of non-conservative media (specifically ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, and The Washington Post) increases consumer trust in scientists, and in turn belief that global warming is happening.The study also examined previous research on this issue and concluded that the conservative media creates distrust in scientists through five main methods:1) Presenting contrarian scientists as "objective" experts while presenting mainstream scientists as self-interested or biased.2) Denigrating scientific institutions and peer-reviewed journals.3) Equating peer-reviewed research with a politically liberal opinion.4) Accusing climate scientists of manipulating data to fund research projects.5) Characterizing climate science as a religion.Media Matters provides examples of Fox News engaging in all five of these tactics. One prime example involves contrarian meteorologist Joe Bastardi, a frequent ...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - August 8, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Dana Nuccitelli Tags: NBC theguardian.com Blogposts Rush Limbaugh New York Times Science and scepticism CBS ABC MSNBC Climate change Washington Post Fox News NPR Climate change scepticism CNN Environment Source Type: news