Canada‘s 2023 wildfires broke longstanding media caution around climate reporting
Fueled by record-breaking drought and unusually high temperatures, Canada’s 2023 wildfire season was the worst in the country’s history, with more than 15 million hectares (37 million acres) charred. Smoke blanketed the eastern seaboard, with health alerts keeping people indoors as skies turned an eerie orange.
The fires were voted the Canadian Press news story of the year.
The severity of the fires also shifted how they were covered by mainstream media. A new Concordia study of Canadian and U.S. media coverage found that leading broadsheet and tabloid outlets were increasingly likely to mention climate change in their stories and make explicit connections between the wildfires and climate change.
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