What Do Extreme Weather Events Say About Climate Change? Comparing Politicization and Climate Policy in U.S. Wildfire and Hurricane News Coverage

Abstract

The increasing intensity of wildfires and hurricanes signal the reality of climate change, drawing media coverage that could capture the attention of policymakers. In a computational content analysis of 8906 news articles from four national newspapers, we compare coverage of wildfires and hurricanes in the U.S. from 2016 to 2021 examining volume and references to climate change, policy, and politicization. Our findings show patterns that provide new insight into how media may impact policymaking addressing climate change challenges. We find greater mentions of climate change in wildfire news coverage, suggesting that journalists more often associate wildfires with climate change than hurricanes. Volumetric data suggest a potential normalization effect implying decreased media attention of these events could reduce support for subsequent policy action. Overall, however, we do not see evidence that wildfires and hurricanes are focusing events for climate policy. We further discuss the implications of our findings, raising several questions and suggestions for future research. KEY POLICY HIGHLIGHTS Climate change is more often mentioned in mainstream national U.S. news media connected to wildfires, while economic factors are more associated with hurricanes. Related policy may be more accepted when framed accordingly. Because less media attention may be paid to hurricanes and wildfires over time, as the novelty and dramatization factors diminish, the likelihood of their presence on policy agendas may be reduced. Recurring extreme wildfires and hurricanes may become expected by the public, policymakers, and news media. Normalization would mean extreme hurricanes and wildfires won’t fit the definition of focusing events, suggesting that these events would not affect the policy agenda.