Annual trends in reporting of climate change in the media and scientific literature

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Here’s an interesting graph taken from a recent publication by Russill & Nyssa in the journal Global Environmental Change (“The tipping point trend in climate change communication”, 19:336-344). The entire article is a fascinating read, but if the methods are to be believed, the data implies a HUGE increase in the reporting of the phrase “Climate Change” by the Australian media in the last five years – more than the US and UK media combined at last count (2007). The solid line (ISI Web of Science) represents the use of the phrase “Climate Change” in the scientific literature. Methodological bias or a genuine representation of the climate change ‘feeding-frenzy’ by the Australian press in recent years? Food for thought.

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