SHOULD MEAT GET MORE COVERAGE ?

No news is good news for the meat industry, but it’s terrible news for people and the planet. Despite the oversized role of livestock production in driving climate change, mainstream media ignores the issue. A new analysis by Faunalytics for Sentient Media revealed that 93% of climate-related news never mentions meat. Researchers analysed 1,000 articles in 10 national US media outlets since September 2022 and found that within the very limited coverage that mentions animal agriculture, “much of the reporting covers climate impacts on livestock rather than how meat production is a source of greenhouse gas emissions.” Earlier research by our sustainable food advocacy group also shows that the topic of climate emissions from animal agriculture gets comparatively less media coverage than other climate problems. Almost 450 out of 91,180 climate articles in top-tier English-language media outlets in the EU, UK and US between 2020 and mid-2022 mention meat or livestock as a source of emissions — 0.5% of overall climate reporting. This is problematic: media narratives help to set the political agenda and are precursors to political action. In other words, media coverage of the role of livestock in driving climate change is more likely to create political urgency, policy prioritisation and resource allocation. Why are climate and environment reporters ignoring meat’s part in climate change? Could it be advertising revenue and sponsors to political parties ?