In her new book Apocalyptic Authoritarianism: Climate Crisis, Media, and Power, University of Toronto media scholar Hanna E. Morris argues that some climate journalists, striving to preserve a self-determined “moderate center,” are deploying some of the same tropes and reinforcing some of the same narratives as the extreme right. Even as they see themselves defending democracy and confronting the climate crisis, these media elites might be contributing to a prize sought by both the MAGA right and the fossil fuel industry: Preventing the emergence of a hopeful, democratic, and class-defying movement against climate change.

Earlier this month, Morris spoke with Drilled about who gets to choose which climate solutions are “right” and which ones are “wrong,” what the media’s divergent treatment of the Green New Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act reveals about its entrenched biases, and why a sense of fatalism and inevitability seems to pervade so much mainstream climate coverage.

In her new book <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/59887">Apocalyptic Authoritarianism: Climate Crisis, Media, and Power</a>, University of Toronto media scholar <a href="https://hannamorris.com/">Hanna E. Morris</a> argues that some climate journalists, striving to preserve a self-determined &ldquo;moderate center,&rdquo; are deploying some of the same tropes and reinforcing some of the same narratives as the extreme right. Even as they see themselves defending democracy and confronting the climate crisis, these media elites might be contributing to a prize sought by both the MAGA right and the fossil fuel industry: Preventing the emergence of a hopeful, democratic, and class-defying movement against climate change. Earlier this month, Morris spoke with Drilled about who gets to choose which climate solutions are &ldquo;right&rdquo; and which ones are &ldquo;wrong,&rdquo; what the media&rsquo;s divergent treatment of the Green New Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act reveals about its entrenched biases, and why a sense of fatalism and inevitability seems to pervade so much mainstream climate coverage.

Drilled is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists and led by Amy Westervelt, each season unravels new evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.

Season 15 coming April 2026.

Drilled is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists and led by Amy Westervelt, each season unravels new evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.
Season 15 coming April 2026.

A true-crime podcast about climate change, hosted and reported by award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt.

Drilled

Hanna E. Morris on Apocalyptic Authoritarianism and Media Bias

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f8d0ed0d-8b91-4cd4-97d0-b3ec00ed2cd2/transcript