Is News Corp. Failing Science?

A snapshot analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that representations of climate science on Fox News Channel and in the Wall Street Journal's opinion section were overwhelmingly misleading, despite News Corporation's public commitments to environmental sustainability.

• The analysis found that 93 percent of climate science representations on Fox News Channel were misleading, with only 3 out of 40 instances being accurate.
• In the Wall Street Journal's opinion section, 81 percent of climate science representations were found to be misleading, representing 39 out of 48 instances.
• Misleading representations across both outlets included the broad dismissal of human-caused climate change, the use of cherry-picked data, and the disparagement of climate science as a body of knowledge or individual scientists.
• Fox News Channel specifically featured segments where accurate scientific claims made by panelists were overwhelmed by misleading arguments from hosts or other participants.
• The report identifies a pattern of denigrating climate science by promoting distrust in scientific institutions or framing the acceptance of climate change as an ideological issue rather than a factual one.
• While News Corporation has publicly committed to carbon neutrality and sustainability through its Global Energy Initiative, the report concludes that these commitments are undercut by the misinformation in its media outlets.

APA

HUERTAS, A., & ADLER, D. (2012). Is News Corp. Failing Science? Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Is-News-Corp-Failing-Science.pdf

Chicago

HUERTAS, AARON, and DENA ADLER. Is News Corp. Failing Science? Union of Concerned Scientists, 2012. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Is-News-Corp-Failing-Science.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=HUERTAS |first1=AARON |last2=ADLER |first2=DENA |title=Is News Corp. Failing Science? |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=September 2012 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Is-News-Corp-Failing-Science.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{huertas2012news, author = {HUERTAS, AARON and ADLER, DENA}, title = {{Is News Corp. Failing Science?}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2012}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Is-News-Corp-Failing-Science.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }