The University of Oxford conducted a study on how the population reacts to news regarding climate change. The investigations examine various components of people’s perspectives such as age, geopolitics, and the sources they use to get to the news. The results of this examination of the attitudes and reactions to news related to climate change give insight to media outlets on different ways to attract audiences. The results state that populations from Latin America, Southern Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region have lost the least interest in climate change news. The countries with a higher percentage of interest are Chile (52%), the Philippines (52%), Greece (53%), and Portugal (53%). In opposition to this, the countries with a lower percentage of interest are those in the regions of Northern and Western Europe, such as Norway (33%) and France (36%). The country with the lowest percentage of interest in news related to climate change was the United States (30%).
As we analyze those results, it is clear that the two main factors in how the population reacts to this kind of news are geopolitics and polarization. In the US, since the politics and population are widely polarized between left-right and thus, people tend to have less interest in climate change news. However, in the less polarized countries, like Greece, there is greater overall interest.
Now taking into account the age factor, this analysis found that interest between different age groups tends to vary importantly based on climate change news sources. Population over the age of 35 were most widely interested in documentaries/film/TV (42%) as their main sources, as well as major news organizations (33%). Opposite to this, the population under the age of 35 were just interested in documentaries/film/TV (34%), and of course, least interested in politicians/political parties.
If we examine these results, it is also crucial to take into account factors such as: how countries that are most affected by climate change will interact with these kinds of news. Based on that, we can say that the population of the US prefers news outlets to present the information as it is rather than taking sides. On the other hand, countries like Chile, Portugal, and the Philippines are more interested in journalists that advocate for one side.
The results provided by this study show a wide range of factors and situations that relate to the wide range of interests in climate change news. Media outlets, journalists, and even publicists can use this examination to answer the challenging question of how to attract as much audience and viewers/readers as possible. However, another challenge presented here should be taking more attention from the media, which instead of trying to make an audience more interested in the consequences of climate change, makes them get interested in the problem as such.
Comments