The contested 2020 report of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere triggered one of the most prominent recent debates in astrobiology, raising the possibility of extraterrestrial life while exposing deep scientific uncertainty.
This study examines how English-language news media communicated this uncertainty over time and across news outlet types. Drawing on a standardized content analysis of news coverage published between September 2020 and June 2025, we trace shifts in uncertainty framing across four periods of the scientific debate. Findings show that media coverage was closely aligned to the scientific agenda.
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