Distrust of climate [junk] science due to lack of media literacy: research associate who works on citizen science projects at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

(PhysOrg.com) -- Though most climate science studies show evidence that climate change is real, the public persists in distrusting the science.

That's because of the doubt planted by climate change skeptics in the media and a lack of "media literacy education," asserts Caren Cooper, a research associate who works on citizen science projects at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in a Forum article in the March issue of BioScience magazine.
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Furthermore, a small number of climate change deniers (who are often linked to corporations and the fossil fuel industry, she says) have exploited this model by encouraging partisanship; framing climate change as an insignificant problem; and disseminating scientifically inaccurate "educational" messages, according to the paper.
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Cooper also points to research that suggests that science educators should embrace media literacy education, so when faced with new information, members of the public will ask such questions as "who made this message?"; "why was it made?"; "who paid for it?" The public might also be taught to question the content in a message, ask what information has been omitted and question the credibility of the information as fact or simply opinion.