Call it a Climate Crisis

ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and NBC

We need television news to call the climate crisis exactly what it is: a climate crisis.

In 2018, only 3.5% of national television news segments that mentioned climate change referred to it as a crisis or emergency.

Words matter. When networks consistently fail to treat climate change as a crisis or emergency, they unwittingly enable complacency and inaction.

It’s long past time for the media to call the climate crisis what it is—and to cover it with the regularity, focus, and depth that an urgent, existential threat merits.

To: ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and NBC
From: [Your Name]

We’re asking your network and newsrooms to call the climate crisis transforming the Earth exactly what it is: a climate crisis.

Because when lethal heatwaves are the new normal, it’s a crisis. When stronger storms force millions from their homes over and over again, it’s a crisis. When kids walk out of school so adults will see their future’s at stake, it’s a crisis.

But the coverage we see on television doesn’t match the reality outside our windows. In 2018, less than 4 percent of news segments spoke of climate change’s impacts as a “crisis” or “emergency.” And when disasters like supercharged hurricanes and wildfires do strike, too few segments make the connection to the greenhouse gases and climate change behind them.

The words your reporters and anchors use matter. What they call something shapes how millions see it – and how entire nations act.

And today, we need to act boldly and quickly. With scientists warning of global catastrophe unless we slash emissions by 2030, the stakes have never been clearer.

Your network can make a difference. With your voice and your reach, you can jump start a global conversation on how we solve this crisis. While we still have time.

It starts with the news calling this exactly what it is. Call it a climate crisis.