Former Head of the BBC Newsroom and Controller of BBC World Service Mary Hockaday argues that extreme weather is giving journalists clear opportunities to explain the climate story, while new audience research suggests the public wants that context. by Mary Hockaday (Former Head of the BBC Newsroom and World Service controller) News crews have been […]
Half the UK public want news reports to explain climate link to extreme weather
As heatwaves, wildfires and drought dominate summer headlines, new Climate News Tracker research finds half the UK public want news organisations to explain the climate link when scientific evidence supports it, while a further 20% want climate change central to every extreme-weather story.
by Climate News Tracker
Heatwaves, wildfires and drought have been a recurring feature of this summer, bringing extreme weather and its consequences directly into people’s homes, communities and news feeds.
But when these events happen, how much do audiences want journalists to explain the wider climate context? New research commissioned by Climate News Tracker suggests many audiences want that wider context.
Half of the UK public say news organisations should report what happened and, when the scientific evidence supports it, explain the role of climate change.
A further 20% think climate change should be a central part of every extreme-weather story.
19% say news organisations should mainly report what happened and avoid explaining wider climate issues, while 11% don’t know.
Writing for Climate News Tracker, Mary Hockaday, former Head of the BBC Newsroom and Controller of BBC World Service, says the survey findings offer reassurance for newsrooms unsure how audiences will respond to climate coverage.
This research should give editors and reporters confidence that audiences want this journalism.
Mary Hockaday, former Head of the BBC Newsroom and Controller of BBC World Service, in her Climate News Tracker op-ed, Newsrooms needn’t fear climate is ‘boring’. Audiences don’t think so.
The nationally representative survey of 1,231 UK adults was conducted by Kantar between 10 and 12 August 2026 and asked respondents about news coverage of extreme weather, including heatwaves, wildfires and drought.
From reporting the event to explaining it
Extreme weather is one of the moments when climate change most visibly enters the daily news agenda.
Climate News Tracker’s recent newsroom research found that journalists themselves identify extreme weather as by far the strongest trigger for climate coverage.
Our monitoring has also shown, however, that extensive coverage of extreme weather does not necessarily mean audiences are given the climate context behind it.
During the record-breaking May heatwave, Climate News Tracker analysed 97 TV and radio programmes across UK public service media. While the heat was widely reported, only 40% of programmes made or discussed the connection with climate change.
How UK media covered this summer’s extreme weather
- Climate coverage hit a 2026 high, but only because of two heatwaves
- What audiences learned about Europe’s July wildfires on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
- How people got their news shaped what they learned about the June heatwave
- Public service news accounts rarely linked the June heatwave to climate change on Instagram and TikTok
- During the hottest May day on record, what did UK TV and radio news focus on?
A similar pattern emerged on social media, where a growing share of young people get their news. Just 16% of Instagram and TikTok posts about the June heatwave linked it to climate change, compared with 62% of TV and radio coverage of the same event. The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report found over half of 18-to-24 year olds now cite social media, video platforms or AI chatbots as their main source of news.
The new audience findings add another dimension to that research. In total, 70% of people either want news organisations to explain the role of climate change when scientific evidence supports it or believe climate change should be central to every extreme-weather story.
Audiences want context and relevance
We also asked what people would most like news organisations to do more often when reporting extreme weather such as heatwaves, droughts and wildfires.
The two most popular answers point to a combination of climate context and personal relevance.
Some 27% said they wanted news organisations to explain how climate change is connected, while 26% wanted reporting to explain what the event means for people where they live. A further 13% wanted more explanation of the role of fossil fuels alongside possible solutions, including Net Zero, and adaptation. By comparison, 21% said they would prefer news organisations to focus on the immediate news only.
Writing for Climate News Tracker recently, former Sky News head and Climate News Tracker advisory board member John Ryley argued that newsrooms regularly treat events in isolation, rather than as part of a wider story requiring context and analysis.
Too often, there is little appetite to explain as well as report. Audiences want to know what the news means in these complex, uncertain times.
John Ryley, former Head of Sky News, in his Climate News Tracker article, The climate story is everywhere. So why isn’t it in the news?
The new audience research suggests this kind of explanation is particularly relevant when extreme weather becomes a major news story.
Heatwaves, fires and droughts require immediate reporting about what is happening, who is affected and what people need to know. This research suggests many audiences also want journalists to go a step further and help them understand the wider context.
What does this mean for climate journalism?
The findings build on Climate News Tracker’s newsroom survey with Kantar, in which 89% of journalists and production staff surveyed said climate reporting needs new approaches and almost two-thirds said current coverage is not fully meeting audience needs.
These audience findings begin to provide evidence about what some of those approaches could look like
Journalists also told us about the challenge of making climate stories relevant within a crowded and fast-moving news agenda.
Extreme weather provides a clear test of that challenge because it is already a major news story. The question is therefore not necessarily how to persuade audiences to engage with a separate climate story, but what information and context they need when climate-related issues are already in the news.
This new research provides an indication of what audiences want: to understand both the climate connection and what extreme weather means for them.
Climate News Tracker will continue analysing how public service media cover extreme weather across TV, radio, online and social platforms, including how often climate context is provided and how those connections are explained.
