Fwd: A new threat to climate reporting

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Loretta Lohman

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1:34 PM (6 hours ago) 1:34 PM

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We got more grim news for climate media this week: Bari Weiss may soon oversee all editorial content at both CBS and CNN.

The backstory: After Skydance Media acquired CBS News in a merger with Paramount Global last year, company leaders axed its climate desk and hired Weiss as the new editor-in-chief of CBS. Previously, Weiss founded The Free Press, a reactionary opinion outlet that regularly publishes slick nonsense from climate deniers.

Axios reported this week, per anonymous sourcing, that if Paramount Skydance's merger with Warner Bros. Discovery – parent company of CNN – is approved by the Trump administration, Weiss may oversee all news content at both CBS and CNN.

It’s an ominous sign for factual reporting on climate change. And it comes after NPR closed its climate desk and The Washington Post laid off most of its climate team earlier this year.

These moves are especially alarming considering that climate change wasn’t getting much media attention in the first place. A new paper – not yet peer-reviewed – led by my former colleague Sanguk Lee finds that out of 6.5 million U.S. news articles published since 1984, only 0.55% covered climate change.

What you can do: Tell the people in your life about Yale Climate Connections. Instead of downsizing, we’re expanding, and we want to reach more of the 101 million U.S. residents (and many more outside the U.S.) who say they’re very worried about climate change. When you recommend us to friends, family, and colleagues, it makes a big difference!

– Sara Peach, Editor-in-Chief

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P.S. El Niño is officially here, boosting the odds of a relatively quiet Atlantic hurricane, scientists said Thursday.

The 2026 World Cup could be the hottest yet

Johani Carolina Ponce reports (en español):

During a Club World Cup semifinal in July 2025 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández – suffering from heat exhaustion – had to lie down on the pitch. The temperature was 96°F (35.5°C), and the humidity was over 54%, making it feel even hotter.

"The heat was incredible. I got dizzy during a play and had to drop to the ground. Playing in these temperatures is very dangerous,” Enzo Fernández later said in Spanish.

Similar dangerous heat is likely during this summer’s World Cup in part because FIFA often schedules games in accordance with TV broadcast schedules, not player comfort. Compounding the problem, climate change is boosting the likelihood of performance-impairing heat during most scheduled World Cup matches, according to a new Climate Central analysis.

On July 19, 2026, the same stadium where Fernández suffered heat exhaustion – a facility with no roof or air conditioning – will host the World Cup final at the same time: 3 p.m. Of the tournament's 104 matches, 54 will be played during the daytime, including 24 of the 32 knockout-stage games.

In New Jersey, annual temperatures have risen 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2° Celsius) since 1900 – double the global average – and the number of days above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) has grown 36% since 1949, Climate Central’s analysis found. Of the tournament's 16 stadiums, only four have a roof and air conditioning: Mercedes-Benz in Atlanta, AT&T in Dallas, NRG in Houston, and BC Place in Vancouver. MetLife is not one of them.

To address extreme heat concerns, FIFA institutionalized hydration breaks – three-minute interruptions at the midpoint of each half, mandatory in all 2026 World Cup matches regardless of weather conditions.

But why does FIFA insist on afternoon matches in full sunlight? The answer is not found on the playing fields but in television contracts. 3 p.m. Eastern Time in the United States is 8 p.m. in London and 9 p.m. in Paris and Berlin, or European primetime, where the most lucrative markets are. Sports Media Watch documented that FIFA deliberately assigned the highest-profile matches – those featuring European teams – to afternoon windows to align with that schedule.

In 2025, FIFA's Director of Global Football Development, Arsène Wenger, said that the 2026 World Cup would include more covered stadiums. In fact, just 31 of the 104 matches will be played under a roof with air conditioning.

What happened at MetLife in 2025 is not new.

At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, FIFA had already yielded to European broadcasters' interests and scheduled matches at noon under a sun that pushed temperatures to 100°F (38°C) in Monterrey and 95°F (35°C) at several other venues. Diego Maradona – Argentina's captain who is today considered one of the two greatest soccer players in history – protested publicly before the tournament began: "It should be a rule, once and for all, that organizers take players into account. Without us, there is no show. At the very least, schedules should be set for when we play best, not when it's hottest."

His teammate Jorge Valdano was more direct: "Playing at noon is an attack on players. This World Cup clearly shows that television's interests are placed above those of the sport."

In the summer of 1994, all matches in Orlando were played at temperatures of 95°F (35°C) or higher, and during the Mexico vs. Ireland match, the thermometer reached 105°F (41°C); in Dallas, temperatures surpassed 100°F (38°C). At a single match in Orlando, 160 fans received medical treatment for heat-related illness and 12 were hospitalized. Brazil's coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said, "To give one 100% in this heat, you'd have to be a robot."

Edgardo Broner, an Argentine journalist specializing in international soccer who covered the entire 1994 World Cup, said by phone that the dangers of extreme heat were not limited to players.

"It was inhuman. People were suffering under that terrible, blazing sun. I remember a match in Los Angeles – Alfredo Di Stéfano was right next to me [in the stands]; the man had forgotten his cap and was desperate. It was killing you,” he said.

Since 1994, the world has warmed by an additional 1.1 degrees Celsius, making conditions more dangerous for players. The Climate Central analysis found that the U.S. cities that will host matches in 2026 – Dallas, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York – recorded significantly more days above 32 degrees Celsius in June 2025.

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🎙️A student’s expedition to the Antarctic

Eric Gee helped with research, broadcast to 2 million kids in classrooms, and raised awareness about the need to protect the southern continent.

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Tom Toro is the author of the cartoon collection "And to Think We Started as a Book Club..." and the creator of the comic Substack "Undiscovered Masterpieces."

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