Public media and climate change: Ethical standards and codes in the BBC treatment of environmental information

Climate change has entered the public sphere thanks to the media, which are essential in providing information and raising awareness about the seriousness of the problem. Despite the fact that the media, and particularly public media, have the duty of providing adequate information, the coverage of a controversial issue such as global warming is not always properly accomplished by just complying strictly with the fundamental principles of good journalism. The British public broadcasting network, the BBC, is renowned as an international leader in terms of journalistic fairness, independence and clarity, but its news monitoring of everything concerning climate change is not devoid of problems and challenges, which are analysed in this article.