Just say it's sunny

Why is global warming a forbidden topic for most TV weather reporters? Climate change is "controversial" and bad for ratings.

By Linda Baker

Read more: Politics, News, Global Warming

April 4, 2006 | In 1981, Steve Schneider, then a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., was faced with what he refers to as a "real job crisis." He was offered a job as weekend meteorologist at a station in New York City, a position that would have brought him the kind of fame and fortune that can otherwise elude the hardworking American scientist.

Schneider, who is now a Stanford professor in interdisciplinary environmental studies and biological sciences, and a 1992 MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellow, says he made a couple of requests during his station interview. Instead of describing the weather to viewers -- "showers, sun breaks" -- he wanted to deliver "probabilistic forecasts," which reflect the uncertainty inherent in any forecast and the odds that any given event will occur. Schneider also wanted to discuss the daily weather in the context of global climate, as well as human activity, such as pollution.

Station managers weren't impressed. "They were interested in the idea of probabilistic forecasts, but the news consultants hadn't told them that's how to make money," Schneider says. As for including climate change and human influences on weather, Schneider was told: "'Our chief meteorologist doesn't believe in that.' I said, 'He doesn't know what he's talking about.' That was the end of the interview."

Twenty-five years later, the debate over global warming is over. "Nature," as Schneider puts it, "is cooperating with theory." Now that the data are falling into place, and scientists have affirmed humans' impact on climate, is the weather report poised for a 21st century makeover? Most Americans get their information about the weather and climate from TV meteorologists, who in turn provide forecasts to local newspapers. So the weather report would be a fitting, if not exclusive, place to inform the global warming discussion. The long-term implications are also intriguing. Historically, weather forecasters have been segregated from issues of policy and human behavior, which are considered the rightful province of the news reporting staff. Global warming, however, may be the trigger that finally brings the weatherman in from the cold.

"Every newscast has a built-in section devoted to weather," says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "It is ripe for discussion of bigger issues."

Interviews with broadcast meteorologists from around the country suggest that climate change is a hot topic in the newsroom. Weather reporters have come a long way from the 1970s, when they were hired for their looks and handed jokey scripts (David Letterman was a weatherman). Today, most forecasters have degrees in meteorology or a related science. In fact, because weather forecasters are often the only reporters in the newsroom with science backgrounds, they are well positioned to report on global warming, if not explain all the complexities of climate science. "It's not like there's a Grand Canyon separating meteorologists and climatologists," says Anthony Socci, a senior policy fellow at the American Meteorological Society in Boston. "We share the same skill set."

But rescripting the classic weather forecast is no easy task. As media critic Neil Postman has pointed out, the happy-go-lucky weather report has always contained the seeds of a conservative agenda. Consider air quality alerts, which show up in the weather (not news) report as natural adjuncts to rain or shine, purely meteorological events devoid of social consequence or responsibility. Driven by ratings, station heads are reluctant to deviate from the standard three-minute forecast, much less air content that might alienate the broadest possible audience, and cause them to change the channel.

"The last thing any station wants is an activist weatherman," says Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a Washington research group. Would CNN interview health correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, to talk only about heart disease? Felling asks. "No, he talks about the possible causes, the links," he says. "Ever since Sept. 11, we've been inundated with the importance of connecting the dots. But weathermen are asked to live in a vacuum."

Meteorologists, of course, are a heterogeneous crew, with diverse talents, career goals and political inclinations. But in a country where climate change is considered the province of politicians and talking heads -- not scientists -- all forecasters, regardless of interest, are inevitably the last people on the set consulted on global warming coverage.

"It is very difficult for us to report on climate change issues," says John Toohey-Morales, chief meteorologist at WSCV, an NBC Telemundo station in Miami. "We ask, but the news directors are not inclined to do it, or they put it in on a weekend news report with the lowest ratings." Political reporters present global warming as a debatable issue, says Toohey-Morales, who is also American Meteorological Society commissioner for professional affairs. "It's tough for meteorologists to compete against the misinformation campaign."

Next page: Say Earth is getting warmer? "What the hell is that going to do?"