Climate News Tracker analysed how the June 2026 heatwave was covered on Instagram and TikTok by the UK’s major public service media organisations. Compared with TV and radio, social media posts were far less likely to link the record temperatures to climate change.

by Rosie Frost (Journalism Insights Analyst), Dr Lissa O’Reilly (Content Analyst), Odyssée Ferrillo (Content Analyst) & Alina Sandauer (Content Analyst)

Part of Climate News Tracker’s June 2026 Heatwave Coverage Series.

Instagram and TikTok are among the fastest-growing platforms for news consumption, particularly among younger audiences. The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2026 found that social media and video networks have now overtaken television and news websites as sources of news globally.

The shift is particularly pronounced among younger audiences. More than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed said social media and video networks were their main source of news, with Instagram reaching 42% of that age group.

Against that backdrop, Climate News Tracker analysed how the UK’s major public service media organisations covered the record-breaking June 2026 heatwave on Instagram and TikTok.

The analysis found younger audiences were far more likely to receive practical advice about staying safe than explanations of why record temperatures were occurring, a markedly different balance from TV and radio coverage. Health advice and official warnings featured prominently, while climate context appeared less frequently than in broadcast coverage.

It examined posts published between 20 and 28 June by the main Instagram and TikTok news accounts of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 News and Sky News. Instagram analysis also included BBC Weather and ITV Weather to compare specialist weather coverage with general news output. Other strand, programme and individual presenter or reporter accounts were not included.

Key findings

• 16% linked the heatwave to climate change (62% on TV and radio).
• 42% discussed the health impacts of extreme heat.
• 38% referenced official heat warnings.
• Weather teams produced more climate-linked content than any other editorial desk.
• Specialist weather accounts devoted 81% of their posts to the heatwave, compared with 16% on main accounts.

Health impacts featured more than climate change

Across Instagram and TikTok, audiences were considerably more likely to receive practical information about staying safe during the heatwave than explanations of what was driving it.

More than two in five heatwave posts (42%) discussed the health impacts of extreme heat, while 38% referenced official heat warnings. By comparison, only around one in six posts linked the record temperatures to climate change.

The pattern was consistent across both platforms. On Instagram, 17% of heatwave posts mentioned climate change, compared with 16% on TikTok. Health impacts featured in around two in five posts on both platforms, suggesting public service media organisations took a broadly similar editorial approach regardless of where the content appeared.

Several posts covering fuel poverty, hospital strain or who was most at risk from the heat built a strong health narrative without ever naming climate change as a driver, even where the framing came close.

Reports that ended on lines about extreme weather “becoming the new normal” or heat “becoming less unusual” showed public service media organisations gesturing at the underlying cause without stating it outright. These posts suggest health-focused coverage could often have carried a causal explanation.

Weather teams carried much of the climate explanation

Weather teams became the main source of climate explanation.

Across both platforms, weather teams accounted for 40% of identified presenters and were responsible for almost a third of all climate-linked posts. Climate and science correspondents accounted for 12% of presenters, while health correspondents featured in 8%.

For example, BBC Weather’s Matt Taylor, in a post on 23 June, used the 1976 anniversary to explain that “human-induced climate change” could push future UK summers to 45C, with knock-on effects for drought, wildfires and food prices.

ITV Weather’s Chris Page, on 27 June, cited Imperial College London research showing the record would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused warming.

The pattern mirrors Climate News Tracker’s analysis of TV and radio coverage during the same heatwave, where weather presenters also became the primary communicators of climate science.

Specialist weather accounts gave the heatwave greater prominence

Climate News Tracker also analysed posts published by BBC Weather and ITV Weather on Instagram.

These specialist accounts devoted 81% of their posts during the study period to the heatwave, compared with just 16% of posts published on their main Instagram and TikTok news accounts.

While the heatwave dominated specialist weather output, it occupied a much smaller share of content across the public service media organisations’ wider social media feeds, where it competed with a broad range of other news stories.

This showed in the type of content specialist accounts ran. BBC Weather and ITV Weather were more likely to post standalone explainers on topics like tropical nights or direct comparisons between past and present heatwaves, giving audiences more opportunities to encounter climate context than they received through the main news accounts..

Instagram and TikTok told broadly the same story

Public service media organisations devoted a slightly greater proportion of their output to the heatwave on Instagram than on TikTok, with 23% of Instagram posts relating to the story compared with 16% on TikTok.

Editorial decisions were otherwise remarkably consistent. Almost every climate-linked post appeared on both platforms, with Sky News the only broadcaster to publish a different number of climate-related posts across Instagram and TikTok.

The findings suggest that decisions about whether to include climate context were largely made at newsroom level rather than tailored to individual platforms.

What younger audiences received

The June 2026 heatwave generated extensive coverage across Instagram and TikTok from the UK’s major public service media organisations.

Younger audiences were consistently given practical information about staying safe in extreme heat, including health advice and official warnings. They were less likely to receive explanations of why these events are becoming more frequent.

The analysis suggests that when climate journalism moves onto short-form social platforms, immediate impacts and practical advice are prioritised over longer-term explanation.

Methodology

This analysis examined how the UK’s public service media organisations covered the country’s second heatwave of 2026 on Instagram and TikTok, and how often posts linked the event to climate change. The platforms were selected because they play an increasingly important role in news consumption among younger audiences.

The analysis covered posts published between 20 and 28 June 2026 by the main news accounts of BBC News, ITV News, Good Morning Britain, Channel 4 News and Sky News on Instagram and TikTok. On Instagram, BBC Weather and ITV Weather were also included to compare specialist weather coverage with general news output. Channel 5 News was excluded because it did not publish any heatwave-related posts during the study period.

Each account was manually reviewed post by post. No keyword searches or automated tools were used. A post was classified as heatwave-related if it focused on the June heatwave, including temperatures, weather conditions, public advice, disruption, official warnings or health impacts.

Posts were coded for whether they:

• linked the heatwave to climate change;
• included official heat-health warnings;
• discussed the health impacts of extreme heat; and
• identified the presenter, correspondent or editorial team responsible.

A post was classified as linking the heatwave to climate change if it explicitly connected the event or rising temperatures to climate change, global warming or human-caused climate change. General references to future warming were not counted unless a clear causal link was made.

Where identifiable, posts were categorised by editorial desk, including journalists, weather teams, climate and science desks, and health correspondents. Some posts, such as graphics and carousel posts, did not identify an individual presenter or reporter. These were included in the overall analysis but could not always be assigned to a desk, meaning desk-level percentages do not total 100%.

The analysis focused on public service media organisations’ main news accounts because they best reflect organisational editorial priorities and reach broad audiences. Personal accounts belonging to journalists, presenters and correspondents were excluded because they vary considerably in audience size, posting frequency and editorial purpose, making comparisons between organisations less consistent.

This methodology forms part of Climate News Tracker’s wider analysis of how the June 2026 heatwave was covered across TV, radio, social media and online news.