Nice weather or burning heat? Sentiment analysis of temperature-related media reports.

The frequency, duration, and intensity of heat waves are expected to increase in the coming decades. This could lead to elevated heat stress and consequently an increase in excess mortality, caused by hyperthermia, dehydration, respiratory disease, cerebrovascular disease, or heat stroke. Public awareness of such impacts is key to mitigate heat-related consequences of hot temperatures. For example, the sentiment of heat-related media coverage can affect the perceived risk and the motivation of people to implement risk mitigation such as avoiding outside activities and ensuring sufficient water intake.  

In this study, we analyze the sentiment of temperature-related newspaper reports from multiple countries in an automated way. In particular, we investigate (i) how newspapers in different countries respond to hot temperatures in terms of the number of on-topic articles and their sentiment, and (ii) to what extent socioeconomic and climatic characteristics can explain differences between countries.
For this purpose, we employ data on minimum, mean, maximum, and apparent temperature from the ERA5 reanalysis. We obtain country-specific relationships between the sentiment of temperature-related newspaper articles and the respective temperatures. We hypothesize that these relationships differ, for example, between cold and warm countries, and that heat waves are generally perceived more positively in cold regions.

In summary, this work reveals the links between the sentiment of newspaper articles and hot temperatures across countries. Linking these results with observed heat-related health impacts can guide public health agencies, newspapers, and journalists in particular to ensure public awareness of the detrimental impacts of heat waves, which are expected to further aggravate in a warming world.