An NPR story on Tuesday, for instance, noted that wildfires are “not unusual during Greece’s hot, dry summers,” but added that the blazes “spread so quickly that they seemed to catch everyone off guard.” The story did not mention climate change’s role in droughts and wildfires, or that Greece is currently experiencing its hottest year on record.

There were similar exclusions in other extreme-weather coverage on NPR this month: A July 10 story on Santa Barbara wildfires said fast-spreading blazes were “part of a ‘new normal.’” A July 8 story on Oregon’s drought quoted a rancher saying, “This is not normal for what we normally have here.” A July 7 story on wildfires noted the role of “Record-breaking heat.” None mentioned climate change, though—an omission that drew some criticism on Twitter.

1. I happened to listen to @NPR for a few hours this morning, and I heard three stories that are very much connected to #climatechange without anyone on the radio mentioning climate change even once.



It was surreal and disturbing.



[thread] — Dr. Genevieve Guenther (@DoctorVive) July 8, 2018

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR’s science editor, vigorously defended the public radio network’s climate coverage. “We’re actively working on a story, trying to see what scientists think all of these events,” he told me on Tuesday. “You don’t just want to be throwing around, ‘This is due to climate change, that is due to climate change.’” I suggested that journalists don’t need to determine whether an event was caused by climate change to make a climate connection—a journalist could merely say climate change makes extreme events such as these more likely. “It’s an interesting question if there should be boilerplate language [in extreme weather stories],” Brumfiel replied.

But for now, he said, NPR reporters must interview climate scientists before referencing the phenomenon, which is often not possible with breaking news. “You’re looking at the first-round reporting,” he said, noting that general assignment reporters or regional reporters—not science reporters—are usually the ones covering breaking weather events. “We don’t assume everything that happens is climate change, and you can make statements, but we take our reporting duties seriously.” (NPR certainly does take its climate reporting seriously; the network has five full-time climate and environment reporters, as well as a dozen member station reporters and two editors covering the subject.)