Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original episodes of ABC’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight, CBS’ Mornings and Evening News, and NBC’s Today and Nightly News, as well as all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC, for any of the terms and variations of heat, heat wave, heat dome, or temperature within close proximity of any of the terms New York, Philadelphia, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Dakota, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, New England, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut, Baltimore, midwest, east, north, or mid-Atlantic from June 16, 2025, through June 26, 2025.
We included segments, which we defined as instances when the extreme heat event was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the event. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the event with one another.
We did not include mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the event without another speaker engaging with the comment, or teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the event scheduled to air later in the broadcast.
We then reviewed the identified segments for whether they mentioned climate change or global warming.