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Report Finds 665 Climate Falsehoods on French Airwaves in 2025, Concentrated on Private Outlets

An AI-assisted, yearlong review finds surges around policy debates that prompt a call for newsroom training.

Overview

  • The Observatoire des médias sur l'écologie documented 665 false or misleading climate claims across French TV and radio in 2025, averaging about 13 per week.
  • Disinformation was heavily concentrated on private broadcasters, with 80% of cases recorded on CNews and Europe 1, and Sud Radio and RMC also cited.
  • Fact-checkers attribute 32% of flagged remarks to guests, 24% to political guests, and 20% to journalists, with frequent narratives disputing climate science and electric vehicles.
  • Public broadcasters devoted roughly twice as much airtime to environmental issues and offered more contextual coverage, while overall environment topics accounted for just 4.9% of airtime as biodiversity stories grew.
  • The consortium used AI screening followed by human verification, observed peaks during debates on energy planning and the 2035 new-vehicle combustion ban, and plans to extend monitoring to the press later in February.