The Billionaire Media War on Climate
Hosted by LSE Festival: How to save the planet
The panel, moderated by Tony Travis from the LSE Department of Government, included:
- Donnachadh McCarthy, Director of the Climate Media Coalition and the Media Sovereignty Act Campaign
- Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East and former Labour Minister for Climate
- John Fletcher, Managing Director of the Conservative Environment Network
- Michael Lerner, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at LSE
At the first panel of this year’s LSE Festival, Donnachadh McCarthy argued that billionaire-owned media is driving a dangerous backlash against climate action. He revealed that public support for climate investment has plummeted from four-to-one support in 2022 to nearly two-to-one opposition by 2025, attributing this shift to relentless propaganda that frames net zero as a financial burden rather than a security imperative.
The panel explored why political consensus has fractured. Donnachadh highlighted how press campaigns successfully sabotaged insulation programmes and criminalised peaceful protest, pushing the Conservative Party to adopt anti-climate stances to regain media favour.
Kerry McCarthy emphasised that the green transition is vital for national security and local job creation, while John Fletcher urged the right to reclaim a pragmatic, conservative environmentalism beyond partisan ‘net zero’ rhetoric.
Donnachadh concluded that dismantling this narrative requires three steps:
- Electoral reform to prevent minority anti-climate governments
- A Media Sovereignty Act to end billionaire ownership
- ‘Eco-populism’ ensuring the wealthy pay for the transition.
The discussion underscored that without media sovereignty, democratic control over our climate future is a pipe dream.
Watch the debate:
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With YOUR help, we CAN get the remaining signatures to reach the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger the first debate ever in Parliament on ending the billionaire media destruction of our democracy, climate and wildlife.
Let’s finally end media billionairism for good.
We know with your help, we can do this.
many thanks
Donnachadh and Caspar
The Media Sovereignty Act has five measures:
- Bans foreign media ownership.
Just 3 foreign billionaires own 77% of UK newspapers. - Bans the concentration of UK national media ownership by one person or corporation.
Just 7 media billionaires own almost all UK newspapers & social media. - Funds independent and local media with a Social Media Levy.
Over two-thirds of all UK media advertising is siphoned off by three huge US tech-billionaire corporations, leading to 1,000s of UK journalists being fired and the decimation of UK national and local news production. - Requires national media to be under the remit of the statutory regulator.
The billionaire media refused to join the independent media regulator Impress after the phone-hacking scandals. The billionaire media instead “self-regulate.” - Requires “dark-money funded think-tanks” that are covered by the media to declare donations in real time.
Think-tanks are privately funded policy institutions seeking to influence government policy. Currently, many are corruptly dark-money funded by foreign billionaires, oil corporations and others to run propaganda campaigns to manipulate UK government policy in favour of their billionaire vested interests.