Television is a key medium for climate information worldwide, yet little research has been conducted to date into how climate issues are portrayed on television and which audiences they reach. An analysis of 23,478 hours of programming across 20 German television channels over 61 days in 2022 reveals that, at the start of the multi-crisis autumn of 2022, marked by war, inflation and energy insecurity, 2.2 per cent of airtime was devoted to climate issues. The coverage focused primarily on news programmes and thus mainly reached sections of the population already engaged with climate issues. People who are more distant from climate issues and tend to prefer entertainment programmes, on the other hand, had little exposure to climate content. An accompanying representative survey also reveals unequal gender representation in television programmes as well as a perceived over-representation of politicians. The study suggests that more inclusive narratives, more diverse representation and innovative formats can help to strengthen the reach and accessibility of climate communication on television.
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