Yesterday′s dinner, tomorrow′s weather: Today′s news?

Background: There is strong evidence that the food system is an important contributor to climate change. This paper examines coverage of food system contributions to climate change in top U.S. newspapers. Methods: Using a sample of 16 leading U.S. newspapers from September 2005 – January 2008, two coders identified “food and climate change” and “climate change” articles based on specified criteria. Analyses examined variation across time and newspaper, the level of content relevant to food system contributions to climate change, and how such content was framed. Results: There were 4,582 “climate change” articles in these newspapers during this period. Of these, 2.4 percent mentioned food or agriculture contributions, with 0.4 percent substantially focused on the issue, and 0.5 percent mentioning food animal contributions. The level of content on food contributions to climate change increased across time. Articles initially addressed the issue primarily in individual terms, expanding to address business and government responsibility more in later articles. Conclusions: U.S. newspaper coverage of food system contributions to climate change during the study period increased, but still did not reflect the increasingly solid evidence of the importance of food system effects on climate change. Increased awareness may promote responses by individuals, industry, and government. Based on co-benefits with nutritional and environmental public health messages and on climate change's food security threats, the public health community has an important role to play in elaborating and disseminating information about food and climate change.