Most Americans have historically enjoyed access to public broadcasting stations whose reach, professionalism, and commitment to service are unparalleled, and which create programs that provide careful, thoughtful, and engaging content. Stations have many sources of funding, including listeners/viewers and foundations like ours; diverse support is especially important as the current administration threatens to withhold nearly all federal resources from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
With special appreciation at the present moment, we are supporting PBS News Hour’s creation of a multimedia climate series called Tipping Point. With regular on-going broadcast segments, social media content, and K-12 classroom lesson plans, the series aims to engage millions of Americans about the links between climate change and weather while shining a light on solutions being explored to adapt to, mitigate, and reverse the impact of the climate crisis. The project is designed to move attention from disastrous climate-driven weather events in the news to climate solutions already underway in communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
The climate crisis can feel overwhelming, and the majority of Americans want to find solutions; PBS News Hour’s programming responds to this yearning for a way through. According to a recent report from Media Matters, the PBS News Hour aired as many segments on the climate crisis as the nightly news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC combined, with stories like these:
- Conservationists take drastic measures to save coral reefs from climate change
- Scientists harness power of artificial intelligence to battle wildfires
- Weather forecasters increasingly address climate change
- How farmers are using cover crops to absorb carbon emissions
Solution-oriented work is focused on helping people adapt, survive, and cope with a warming world. The Tipping Point project will showcase evidence-based carbon removal projects; how best to feed crops and conserve water during droughts, and elevate community climate resilience strategies among other climate crisis responses.
Americans are ready for this information: a recent PBS News/NPR/Marist poll reported that nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults say that climate change is noticeably affecting their local communities, and a majority also see climate change as causing serious effects right now.
News Hour is a trusted messenger: A 2024 Proof Insights survey (formerly M&RR) found that PBS and its member stations are the most trusted news and public affairs network in the United States. According to the 2024 Fall Survey Gfk-MRI Doublebase survey of American consumer, the News Hour has a bipartisan audience; viewers identify their political outlook as evenly split between “conservative,” “liberal,” and “middle of the road.” And, in this time of deep polarization, the News Hour strives to counter false narratives, misinformation and disinformation on all its platforms.
Via a robust social media strategy, the News Hour reaches audiences well beyond TV viewers (of whom it attracts more than 2 million nightly): it attracts 36 million YouTube views monthly; 1.7 million podcast listeners monthly; 2 million live-streamings monthly; and 51 million on social media channels – Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.
The time is ripe to showcase examples of effective climate action; good journalism brings knowledge and, in a democracy, knowledge brings strength. By elevating voices to a national media platform to talk specifically about bold climate solutions, the Tipping Point project helps bring tangible knowledge to not only the bipartisan PBS News Hour national audience, but also to local community leaders across the country who can learn from each other’s best practices.