Abstract
Despite occasional pockets of climate change scepticism, the days when journalists would report on climate change by balancing "pro" and "sceptic" voices, or by knocking the human-induced climate change argument with prominent coverage of an alternative theory, already seem a distant memory in the UK, claim the authors. This marked change in the treatment of climate change in the British media has helped lay the ground for a dramatic shift in the quality of public debate around the issue. Numerous specialists credit UK journalism of the last 18 months with being leagues ahead of their U.S. colleagues in the depth and regularity of coverage. Yet, why did it take the media 10 years to understand where the centre of gravity of informed opinion on climate change lay? - "the story didn't break, it oozed," they write. "The basics of the science have, after all, changed little since the mid 1990s. There are worrying signs that some of the reasons for this delay - above all a well-intentioned deep affection for sceptical opinion - could impede public debate on the next and vital stage in the climate change debate as we work out what political and economic steps to take."
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