We ’ve reached the final Bos stage of mood sarcasm . The New York TimesreportedTuesday that Rupert Murdoch , the media power whose News Corp. own Fox News , plans to launch a full - fourth dimension channel focused on the weather called Fox Weather .
Apparently , viewer are thirsty for conditions content — the Weather Channel ’s viewership was up 7 % in the first half of this year , while viewership fell for great cable networks . And see at thehistoric heat wavesgripping much of the state this summertime — caused partially by stalled climate action assist by Fox News working in tandem with crude company and the Republican Party to spread climate misinformation — it ’s not heavy to see why .
The irony of Fox make a conditions communication channel , of all things , is as deep as the rapidly heating ocean and as wide as our swiftly overheating nation . As much of the respite of the earth ponders how to dig ourselves out of this kettle of fish we ’ve made , Fox News is still cohere urgently to denial . Last month , star Tucker Carlson used his show toallege that climate activistswant to “ try out to make kid modest ” to fix worldwide thawing ( plunderer alert : that is , uh , not true ) , while in May , clime denier Steve Koonin was invite tonot one , but two Fox News programsto promote his book claiming that other scientists are get too worked up about this global warming thing . Even the purportedly nonpartizan even news show host by Brett Baier has a distinct denier rake : A Media weigh analysis of Baier ’s climate coverage from 2009 to 2021 find thata whopping 88 % of itran the gamut from misleading to promoting bad - religion narrative to flat - out prevarication .
News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch experiencing some weather.Photo: Kevork Djansezian (Getty Images)
“ It ’s not just the bigger clime denial , ” said Allison Fisher , the director of the climate and energy program at Media Matters . Fox News , Fisher said , “ specifically use[s ] weather to tug mood denial . That is a long - bear manoeuvre of Fox News , even before Trump was tweeting out , like , ‘ where ’s your global warming now ? ’ during a snowstorm . That ’s a very classic Fox move . ”
Fisher pointed out that as of late as this twelvemonth , Fox News contributorsused an April cold snap to lay claim mood variety was a hoax . “ They ’re emphatic about dismissing the kinship between climate change and weather , whether it ’s during a megastorm or the wildfires last twelvemonth or the record - shatter warmth this calendar week , and then also mocking the musical theme of global warming during moments of abnormally moth-eaten weather , ” she said . “ They ’re the ace who have made weather political . ”
News Corp owns the denier - well-disposed Wall Street Journal and New York Post , as well as several right - annexe electric outlet in Murdoch ’s rest home land of Australia . While Murdochclaims not to be a mood denier himself , there ’s no question that his companies have made money — and sinewy ally in the fogey fuel manufacture — perpetuating negative climate “ coverage . ” A Greenpeacesurveyreleased last yr receive that News Corp ’s coverage of thedevastating 2020 Australian wildfiresdrove a “ viral misinformation effort ” stand for to diffuse misinformation on the causes of the fire and protect the ember industry in Australia . The company ’s explicit and unquestioning warrant of clime denial has even led to a fracture in the Murdoch family : during the wildfire , Murdoch ’s untried Logos , James , issue a rebuke of the companyon its treatment of clime , and hestepped down from the company last summer .
According to Fisher , Fox News has meteorologist on staff who describe on the atmospheric condition , but they mostly do “ straight reporting ” of what is going on . “ They ’re not contextualizing ” that weather , she pronounce — despite the fact that other connection areletting their meteorologistsdiscuss how utmost conditions is determine by clime variety . “ That contextualization of these events as climate is what makes Fox ’s entry into this space really suspect and troubling . ”
All of this raise the question of how , precisely , Fox is planning to go about cover the weather when it keeps getting more utmost thanks , in part , to a stack they helped make . As Deadlinereported a few week ago , Fox has tapped at least six meteorologists from dissimilar local markets — Britta Merwin , Jason Frazer , Craig Herrera , Bridgit Mahoney , Stephen Morgan , and Nick Kosir — to flesh out the basis of its news team . Earther was capable to find just a few tweets from three of them that note climate change .
“ Climate change is real and it is a fact , ” Merwin , a future Fox morning host and formerly of KPRC - TV in Houston , respondedin February to a Twitter user using Merwin ’s story of snow on the beach to claim climate change was a hoax . “ It is about science , ” she wrote . Her future forenoon cohost , Frazer of WKYC - TV in Cleveland , thankeda meteorologist in 2017 for “ sharing … expertise on mood variety ” and mentioned climate change in 2018 when talk over the size of a tropic storm . ( “ You could debate Climate Change but I am not equal that hot tater , ” hewrote . ) Meanwhile , Herrera , who covered weather for Seattle ’s KING - TV and will do as another coanchor , nip about clime in 2013 and 2014 , when he coveredan IPCC reportand did to each one on California ’s drought . “ We have a long direction to go but education and fact are cardinal , ” herespondedto one user thank him for his coverage . “ Ca n’t dispute the science or numbers . ”
Earther reached out Frazer , Merwin , and Herrera , along with another of their future coworkers , to ask how they planned to handle clime insurance coverage . We will update when we receive any reaction .
concord to the Times , Fox is dip a toe into this space because it ’s so profitable ; it quotes a TV executive saying that “ climate variety and the surroundings will be the story of the next decennary , ” while a interpreter for Fox told the Times the web will offer “ in - profundity coverage surrounding all weather status , and we are excited to showcase to spectator what a full - service comprehensive conditions platform can deliver begin this surrender . ” Some of Fox ’s succeeding competitors making hay out of the climate crisis could prick the meshwork into figuring out ways to cover it : The Weather Channel , the Times reported , has a whole server of clime alteration programming project , include a show about mineworker appear for minerals in Greenland exposed by fresh evaporate ice ( sorry , what ? ) .
But Fisher get wind a darker possibility for the new weather condition service .
“ It ’s the message they ’re producing that ’s going to get amplified , ” she state . “ If they bring on a denier like Marc Morano , if he start to get a platform there — that content is going to go on his web site , it ’s fit to go into other ripe - wing media infosphere , it ’s going to bounce back on Fox , it ’s going to go on societal media , and they ’re go to push that out in moments when everybody else is saying , ‘ this is mood change’–they’re going to be able to tell this correct - wing media bubble , it ’s not . ”
mood changeFox NewsNews CorpRupert MurdochTrumpTucker Carlson
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