Climate and Environmental Coverage in Popular Entertainment Television: A Computer-Assisted Analysis of Subtitles

Environmental and climate discourse has spread into entertainment media, but research to date has mostly focused on direct climate fiction (cli-fi) productions. This study analyzes the subtitles of 115,000 TV episodes from popular global TV shows, across time and geography, to understand prevalent depictions of environmental and climate issues and how entertainment television has contributed to these conversations. This study is interdisciplinary, combining Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques and discourse studies approaches. The results show a gradual rise in environmental and climate discussions in entertainment television over time, though levels of coverage are still relatively low. Resistance to solutions like electric vehicles and eco-friendly practices in TV stories has diminished over time, with climate and environmental solutions predominantly discussed through economic and social values rather than moral values. US productions emphasize economic discussions, whereas non-US and especially Global South productions emphasize climate justice. There are substantial opportunities to expand how climate and environment are featured in TV shows, for example: depictions of how policies exclude marginalized communities, the need for stronger regulatory policy for corporate accountability, or critiques of growth-driven paradigms, all of which are largely absent. Instead, climate solutions are largely depicted as compatible with existing growth paradigms.