As Midwestern states assess the damage wrought by record flooding in recent weeks, scientists tell Media Matters that the media has missed an important part of the story: the impact of climate change. A Media Matters analysis finds that less than 3 percent of television and print coverage of the flooding mentioned climate change, which has increased the frequency of large rain storms and exacerbated flood risks.

Seven out of eight scientists interviewed by Media Matters agreed that climate change is pertinent to coverage of recent flooding in the Midwest. Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer told Media Matters it is “not only appropriate, but advisable” for the press to note that rainstorms in the Midwest are increasing in frequency and that climate models “suggest this trend will continue,” which will contribute to more flooding. Aquatic ecologist Don Scavia added that this is the “new normal,” and that the media is “missing an important piece of information” by ignoring this trend.

Indeed, climate change has been almost entirely absent from national and local reporting on the floods. Only one of 74 television segments mentioned climate change, on CBS News. ABC, NBC and CNN never mentioned the connection.

Meanwhile, USA TODAY was the only national print outlet to report on Midwest floods in the context of climate change. USA TODAY also created a video, featured above, explaining the connection as part of a year-long series on the impacts of climate change.  

Less than 4 percent of local newspaper articles on flooding in the Midwest mentioned climate change, with several papers in the hardest-hit areas ignoring the climate context altogether.

These findings follow a series of Media Matters reports detailing how the media has ignored climate change even while reporting on extreme weather events that have been made more likely as a result of a warming climate, including record heat waves and massive wildfires in the West.

John Kerr created the video included in this post.