Media outlets reporting on climate change will bring in deniers in an effort to "balance" coverage and present an alternative view. However, to viewers, this then places them—often a person with no scientific background—on the same level as someone who is an expert in the field.
"It's not just false balance; the numbers show that the media are 'balancing' experts—who represent the overwhelming majority of reputable scientists—with the views of a relative handful of non-experts," study author Professor LeRoy Westerling said in a statement. "Most of the contrarians are not scientists, and the ones who are have very thin credentials. They are not in the same league with top scientists. They aren't even in the league of the average career climate scientist."
Last year, the U.K.'s BBC was found to have broken accuracy guidelines in 2017 after Lord Nigel Lawson—a known climate change denier—made inaccurate statements that went unchallenged. Following the incident, the broadcaster sent out a memo to staff saying it gets climate change coverage "wrong too often" and that journalists "do not need a 'denier' to balance the debate," the The Guardian reported.