Climate warning

Record misinformation during France's heatwave in May

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Marine Stephan

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Image of CNews

CNews

Climate warning
During France's first 2026 heatwave at the end of May, the Observatoire des Médias sur l’Écologie detected 62 instances of climate misinformation in the news programs of 18 national radio and television stations. This is nearly 5 times the weekly average observed in 2025!!! Nearly half of the misinformation was stated by politicians without being challenged, and more than one-third was stated by journalists. The worst ones? CNews, Sud Radio, and Europe 1, where there was one instance of climate misinformation for every 20 minutes of airtime during the heatwave of May 23-30. Oh, and to make it worse, on CNews and Europe 1, journalists and commentators were directly responsible for 52% and 45.5% of the misinformation cases identified. Great journalism, right?
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They keep repeating the same false (and harmful) narratives, from the good old "The heatwave is not exceptional, and its link to global warming has not been proven", to "France accounts for a negligible share of global emissions, so its efforts are pointless”, without forgetting the debate on air conditioning having no negative impact on the environment.
Screenshot from QuotaClimat

Screenshot from QuotaClimat


We need the Arcom, the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication, to start acting and enforce the obligations of accuracy and honesty in reporting. This isn't some coincidence and one-time mistake; it is a harmful editorial choice.
Read more and check out the great work that Quotaclimat does:
https://quotaclimat.org/actualites/sur-cnews-sud-radio-et-europe-1-plus-dun-cas-de-mesinformation-toutes-les-20-minutes-dediees-au-climat-pendant-la-vague-de-chaleur-de-mai/



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