John,
The air was thick with smoke. Skies turned orange across the Northeast. Emergency rooms filled up with people gasping for breath. But while millions suffered through smoke from Canadian wildfires in 2023, the mainstream media, CBS, NBC, and The New York Times hardly mentioned the words “climate change.”
A Media Matters study found that only 6% of wildfire news segments connected the dots to climate change. That’s not an accident, it’s a pattern. Year after year, fire after fire, floods and heat waves included, media elites tiptoe around fossil fuel accountability. They report the destruction, but not the cause. They capture the flames, but not the fuel.
This sanitized coverage lets oil companies off the hook, misleads the public, and sabotages the fight for climate action. If the biggest newsrooms can’t name the problem, how can we expect the public to mobilize for solutions?
Call on ABC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, and other influential media outlets to Connect Wildfires to Climate Change.
Media outlets need to start featuring climate scientists and frontline voices, and name fossil fuels as the root cause. Public understanding depends on it. When the media fails to tell the truth, people don’t demand action and polluters win.
When wildfire smoke chokes our lungs, the media shouldn’t be gaslighting the public. When homes are destroyed, families displaced, and entire ecosystems incinerated, coverage must name the cause: fossil fuel-driven climate change.
We’re building a movement that holds power to account, from oil giants to media moguls. When wildfires rage and smoke chokes our cities, we won’t let newsrooms act like it's business as usual.
Demand ABC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, and other national outlets change course.
Journalism must rise to the crisis, or we’ll make sure the public holds them accountable.
- DFA AF Team
