Unravelling climate misinformation: fact-checking of climate disinformation in spanish-speaking podcasts

Identifier:  imarina:9463640

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9463640

Authors:  Cisneros, M; Pozo, JXO; Boqué-Ciurana, A; Cimolai, C; Dermit, D; Arnal, A; Masip, M; Sigro, J; Aguilar, E

Abstract:
Climate change remains a critical global challenge, yet denialism endures across various sectors despite growing scientific consensus. Climate misinformation poses a major obstacle, with radio podcasts-an influential medium-contributing to its spread. This study, conducted in collaboration with C3/IU-RESCAT/URV, VERIFICAT, Kinzen, and Chequeado, represents the first analysis of climate mis-and disinformation narratives in Spanish-speaking podcasts. Over eight months, podcasts were monitored, focusing on content from June to November 2022, coinciding with COP27. The dataset comprised 629 podcast excerpts, totalling over 241 h. The study aimed to identify, categorise, and assess the prevalence of climate misinformation narratives. The podcast selection phase proved to be the most critical stage of the workflow. The most frequent climate misinformation narratives were: 'Climate science is unreliable (conspiracy)', 'Climate change does not exist', and 'Solutions do not work'. These were predominantly present in programmes categorised under Politics, Economy & Opinion, and Mystery & Other Realities. Notably, the 'Greenwashing' narrative appeared exclusively in Politics, Economy & Opinion content. During COP27, the daily rate of climate mis-and disinformation claims (7.5 per day) was significantly higher than during the regular period (2.9 per day). Podcasts showed heightened scepticism towards the effectiveness of climate solutions, while conspiracy-driven doubts about climate science and outright denial decreased. These findings are consistent with previous analyses of social media, highlighting the pervasive nature of climate misinformation across platforms. The study reinforces the importance of confronting such narratives to counter climate denial effectively.