Climategate Undermined Belief in Global Warming Among Many American TV Meteorologists
| dc.contributor.utaustinauthor | Wilson, Kristopher | en_US |
| dc.creator | Maibach, Edward | en_US |
| dc.creator | Witte, James | en_US |
| dc.creator | Wilson, Kristopher | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-10-28T19:50:42Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-10-28T19:50:42Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-01 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | CLIMATEGATE UNDERMINED BELIEF IN GLOBAL WARMING AMONG MANY AMERICAN TV METEOROLOGISTS Television (TV) meteorologists are a potentially important source of informal climate change education in that most American adults watch local TV news and consider TV weather reporters to be a trusted source of global warming information. In January 2010, we used a Web-based survey of TV meteorologists nationwide to assess the impact of "Climategate" the unauthorized release of; and news stories about, e-mails between climate scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom on their beliefs about climate change; the response rate was 52%. Most respondents (77%) had followed the story; 42% of those who did indicated it made them more certain that global warming is not happening. Conservatives (57%) were more likely than moderates (43%) and liberals (15%) to endorse this view (chi(2) = 49.89, p < 0.001), and those who believed global warming is not happening (74%), or who did not know (46%), were more likely to endorse the view than those who believed it is happening (25%; chi(2) = 108.59, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that political ideology, belief in global warming, and gender each predicted a negative impact of the story, but certifications from professional associations did not. Furthermore, respondents who followed the story reported less trust in climate scientists (2.8 versus 3.2; p < 0.01), and in the IPCC (2.2 versus 2.7; p < 0.01), than those who had not. We conclude that, at least temporarily, Climategate has likely impeded efforts to encourage some weathercasters to embrace the role of climate change educator. These results also suggest that many TV weathercasters responded to Climategate more through the lens of political ideology than through the lens of meteorology. (Page 31) | en_US |
| dc.description.department | Journalism and Media | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | National Science Foundation DRL-0917566 | en_US |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.15781/T2125QC50 | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Maibach, Edward, James Witte, and Kristopher Wilson. "" Climategate" Undermined Belief in Global Warming Among Many American TV Meteorologists." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 92, No. 1 (Jan., 2011): 31. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1175/2010bams3094.1 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0003-0007 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2152/43207 | |
| dc.language.iso | English | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartof | en_US | |
| dc.relation.ispartofserial | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | en_US |
| dc.rights | Administrative deposit of works to Texas ScholarWorks: This works author(s) is or was a University faculty member, student or staff member; this article is already available through open access or the publisher allows a PDF version of the article to be freely posted online. The library makes the deposit as a matter of fair use (for scholarly, educational, and research purposes), and to preserve the work and further secure public access to the works of the University. | en_US |
| dc.rights.restriction | Open | en_US |
| dc.subject | television weathercasters | en_US |
| dc.subject | information | en_US |
| dc.subject | science | en_US |
| dc.subject | meteorology & atmospheric sciences | en_US |
| dc.title | Climategate Undermined Belief in Global Warming Among Many American TV Meteorologists | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |