If you are reading these lines, you are part of a minority group, according to a study which suggests that the level of interest of Canadians for information concerning climate change is among the lowest of some fifty countries.
Posted at 3:44 p.m.
According to the document published two weeks ago by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford in England, it is in countries in Latin America, southern Europe and the Asia-Pacific that has the highest interest in climate change information.
For example, just over half of citizens surveyed in Greece (53%), Portugal (53%), Chile (52%) and the Philippines (52%) said they were interested in information on climate change and the environment. Conversely, it is in northern and western European countries as well as in the United States and Canada that citizens are the least interested in learning about the climate.
With 39% of the population saying they are interested in information about climate change, Canada finds itself at 31e rank out of 46 countries, tied with Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Spain.
The United States is the nation with the least interest in news that deals with climate change, according to the study, a result that could be explained by political polarization.
Less interest due to polarization
The greater the political divide between left and right, the less nationwide interest there is in climate news. For example, in the United States, even though 55% of citizens who associate with the left care to be informed about climate change, the subject interests only 30% of the population, because there are few people on the right. , 14%, to worry about it.
The study points out that extreme weather events also have an impact on the interest in climate change.
Greece and Portugal, for example, have been hit by devastating forest fires in recent years, and Chile continues to suffer from severe drought, which has made climate change more noticeable and would explain the strong media interest in the subject in these countries. Greece and Portugal are also places where there is very little division between left and right regarding climate change, according to the researchers.
TV series before traditional media
Documentaries and television series are more popular than traditional news media as sources for those interested in climate change.
The researchers point out that across the markets surveyed, 39% of respondents said they pay more attention to documentaries and TV series than major news outlets (33%) for information on what topic.
The study gives the example of works available on streaming services like The blue planet, Seaspiracy or Elephant.
“These are films and TV series that, while not always about climate change, combine stunning visuals with compelling storytelling and environmental messages that reach millions of people,” the researchers concluded. from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Series Our planetstreaming on Netflix, has reportedly been watched in over 100 million homes since its release in 2019.
This type of story helps the public to better understand climate issues which are often abstract, according to the researchers, who point out however that certain films and series have been accused of using facts in a selective way, and of having recourse to an approach sometimes too simplistic and lacking in rigor, which can result in alienating part of the public and making those who doubt climate change even more skeptical.
Influencers vs traditional media
In several countries, respondents under 35 are often two or three times more likely to say they pay attention to celebrities, social media personalities or activists than people over 35.
The researchers give the example of Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate activist who has hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Instagram followers; Jack Harries, an environmentalist and YouTuber whose channel has 3.7 million subscribers; and Jerome Foster, a young climate activist who is a White House adviser and has 41,000 followers on Instagram.
Journalistic impartiality in the face of the crisis
According to the study, younger people also want journalists to “take a stand” in favor of action to combat climate change.
In the 18-24 age group, 43% believe that journalists should join the fight against climate change, while 34% of those aged 55 and over share this opinion.
On the other hand, 27% of those aged 18-24 believe that journalists have a duty of impartiality even when it comes to the fight against climate change, compared to 43% among those aged 55 and over.
Depending on the age group, between 9 and 14% of respondents say that journalists should take a stand against any action that contributes to the fight against climate change.
The researchers also report that across the countries analyzed, those interested in climate change tend to have higher than average levels of income and education.
The report recently published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University is the second part of a study on how citizens learn about climate change. The first part had been published in 2020.