A new study criticizes US and UK media outlets for a relative lack of coverage of the link between the climate crisis and animal agriculture. Researchers found that the volume of coverage between 2006 and 2018 remained low, and that when the issue was covered, consumer responsibility was mentioned more than that of governments or the livestock industry and factory farms.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Communication analyzes how much attention four “elite media” outlets: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and The Telegraph, paid to animal agriculture’s role in contributing to climate change.
The Guardian was singled out as having the highest volume of this type of coverage, and its “Animals Farmed” series was acknowledged specifically. However, researchers say an overall lack of coverage likely contributed to low public awareness of the link between the climate crisis and animal agriculture, and cited previous studies – in the US, UK, China and Brazil — that showed similar findings.
The study concludes that given the low media profile of the connection, this can be interpreted by the public that the issue is not important. So, despite the growing influence of social media, traditional media remain influential in people’s decisions about which issues matter most.
“This may be one of many obstacles to more effective interventions to reduce meat consumption in Western diets, which has been proposed by many research institutions,” the study said.
The researchers suggest that the low amount of media coverage may be explained by the reluctance of media sources such as governments, politicians and environmental NGOs to advocate for policies in this area and “from a general reluctance to take on powerful lobbying interests in the farming sector.”
“The range of options around personal dietary change was far more prominent in the media discussion of solutions than government policies, reforming agricultural practices or holding major animal food companies accountable for their emissions.”
The study reflects similar conclusions from other research showing that “meat consumption is the third rail of climate politics.” This is true in most countries where powerful lobbying by big food companies has significant influence on government policy, and where individual farmers have significant voting power because they are widely represented in almost all electoral districts.
The elite media study shows “the farming sector is also much less mentioned than consumers. This may be an indication of a relative lack of media scrutiny of large-scale, intensive animal farming, which is linked to the draconian “ag-gag” laws in some states in the US which put strong restrictions on reporting on what goes on in such farms.”