If They Like You They Learn From You: How a Brief Weathercaster-Delivered Climate Education Segment is Moderated by Viewer Evaluations of the Weathercaster

Sep 30, 2013 | All Categories, Climate Matters, Journal Articles

Local television (TV) weathercasters are a potentially promising source of climate education, in that weather is the primary reason viewers watch local TV news, large segments of the public trust TV weathercasters as a source of information about global warming, and extreme weather events are increasingly common (Leiserowitz et al.; U.S. Global Change Research Program). In an online experiment conducted in two South Carolina cities during and immediately after a summer heat wave, the effects on global warming risk perceptions were examined following exposure to a TV weathercast in which a weathercaster explained the heat wave as a local manifestation of global warming versus exposure to a 72-h forecast of extreme heat. Download the Article Here.