How a Channel Seven weather presenter is pushing climate change message – and you didn’t even notice

‘The overall trend is warmer than the long-term average’: How a Channel Seven weather presenter is subtly pushing a climate change message – and you didn’t even notice

  • A Channel Seven weather presenter has subtly pushed for climate change
  • Melbourne reporter Jane Bun never explicitly said the words ‘climate change’
  • Bunn has focused heavily on trends and the increasing number of hot days 
  • She alludes to climate change by saying the world is warming up ‘overall’ 

Bunn described a July day as ‘cold, wet and windy’ despite the fact that the month’s rainfall was less than half the July average

A Channel Seven weather presenter is subtly pushing a climate change message in her nightly bulletins.  

Melbourne meteorologist Jane Bunn has managed to sell the idea to her viewers without explicitly referring to the concept.

Instead, the weather woman has been pointing out significant changes in weathers trends and highlighting the increase of warmer temperatures to her viewers, The Age reported.    

In a May weather report, which saw temperatures reach just over 14C, Bunn called attention to how the overall trend that month ‘since the late 70s is warmer than the long-term average.’ 

‘Overall, our temperatures are moving upwards,’ she said.  

She described a July day as ‘cold, wet and windy’ despite the fact that the month’s rainfall was less than half the July average.   

Jane Bunn (pictured) has never explicitly said the words 'climate change' but instead alludes to it by saying the world is warming up 'overall'

Jane Bunn (pictured) has never explicitly said the words ‘climate change’ but instead alludes to it by saying the world is warming up ‘overall’

She then reported there was a ‘trend toward less July days with significant rain’ over the past 75 years.

But the meteorologist, who was has been working with Climate Communicators in a program run by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub, has insisted that she is just telling viewers ‘exactly what is happening.’  

‘Personally, I don’t like to yell at people,’ she told the outlet. ‘Anything that is forcefully put across, I don’t like to put any political spin on anything either. I just want the facts, quietly put through in a straightforward way that people can understand.’

The research hub supplies the presenters with graphics on the trends, which she says viewers have always been fascinated with. 

A Channel Seven weather presenter has subtly been pushing a climate change message into her nightly bulletins

A Channel Seven weather presenter has subtly been pushing a climate change message into her nightly bulletins

The program, which is the counterpart of an American movement, has signed up more than 500 weather presenters across the US. 

Stephanie Hall, the research hub’s communication manager told The Age that weather presenters ‘trusted’,  ‘apolitical’ and skilled communicators. She said the idea of climate change has become ‘hyper-political.’ 

Bunn says there has been no backlash to her subtle advocacy for climate change. 

‘It’s a couple of graphs which go up on the screen which are telling what is happening. And there shouldn’t be any backlash about that, if you think about it. We’re just telling exactly what is happening.’  

Bunn’s reporting appears to have been well-received, according to social media users.  

‘This is excellent!! Jane Bunn is planting the seeds of change in viewes’ minds. We all feel it and noticie it, on some level, but she’s tying the past to present in an easy to follow fashion. Nice work!! Thank you,’ one Twitter user said. 

‘Jane Bunn isn’t just a weather girl. She’s a meteorologist and she’s not “subtly selling” anything – she is simply stating facts,’ another said. 

A Channel Seven spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that Bunn is a meteorologist, not a political campaigner, and that there is no climate change spin to her reports.   

The network said Bunn’s reporting is based on her expertise and the best available weather data, reflecting exactly what happened over a period of time – regardless of whether it was hot, cold or wet. 

A Channel Seven spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that Bunn is a meteorologist, not a political campaigner, and that there is no climate change spin to her reports

A Channel Seven spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that Bunn is a meteorologist, not a political campaigner, and that there is no climate change spin to her reports

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk