This is a
transcript of Dan Gainor’s speech from the 2007 CPAC panel
“Global Warming Debate Getting the Cold Shoulder,” March 2,
2007.
I was reading late last night that Al Gore thinks the
media, and this is an actual quote: “have chosen … balance as
bias” in the global warming debate.
Watching Gore’s beefy carcass Oscar night, it was
obvious he was full of something. Now we know what that was.
I have a one word response for Al Gore.
Bull.
Let’s run some quick tape. For all the Al Gores of the
world who think the media are balanced on climate change, here
are two snippets. First CBS’s Harry Smith.
When he said all of this, he meant Florida.
For purposes of time, I’ll skip to NBC’s Meredith
Vieira. Meredith and many others in the media were afflicted
with the convenient use of facts. When we had the warm weather
in January, that was a disaster of biblical proportions. Oh
that’s right, they don’t use the Bible. So, we’ll say big and
let it go at that.
A Dec. 27 New York Times article tried the melodramatic
approach: “People worried that the cause of such a mild December
was global warming, and yesterday the joys of wearing short
sleeves were tempered with the anxiety of environmental
disaster.” Wow. I sure could have used some of that anxiety
during the bitter cold we had in February.
Joel Achenbach, of The Washington Post, tried their
unique Style approach for a January 7 piece. “Never has good
weather felt so bad. Never have flowers inspired so much fear.
Never has the warm caress of a sunbeam seemed so ominous. The
weather is sublime, it’s glorious, it’s the end of the world.”
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s certainly the
end of good journalism.
The Society of Professional Journalists – Yes, there is
one and, in fact, I’m a proud member – well, the society
actually has ethical guidelines. And it looks like Dan Rather’s
not the only one in the news media to ignore them.
Let me throw out just a couple. Journalists are
supposed to: “Support the open exchange of views, even views
they find repugnant.” Now we know journalists find any objection
to warming repugnant. But that doesn’t let them off the hook.
Then there’s “Distinguish between advocacy and news
reporting.”
Call me old-fashioned, but I expect journalists to
actually live up to these guidelines.
And they almost never do. In a report we released last
year called “Fire & Ice,” and you can get at the MRC booth, we
looked at how the media have covered climate change for more
than 100 years. Much like weather, they’ve been all over the
map. Around the 1900s, it was an ice age. Then global warming.
By the 1970s, we were back to global cooling. Then warming.
Now it’s simply climate change. They don’t like it when
you remind them of their past failings. So they say you must
conform or the media will ignore, embarrass or attack you. Over
at the Post, they bury what little comment critics get at the
end of climate articles. On the networks, Lou Dobbs and others
only allow one side.
And CBS’s Scott Pelley is one of those who compare
those who disagree with Holocaust deniers.
The eco-extremists like David Roberts of Grist think
there should be “war crimes trials” or “some sort of climate
Nuremberg,” for the “denial industry,” which by their definition
probably includes everyone in this room.
The media haven’t been much better. And they are far
less honest. Over at the Society of Environmental Journalists,
the debate isn’t how to cover this issue better; it’s how to
cover it more one-sided.
On the big three networks, every analysis we do shows a
thoroughly one-sided approach to climate. Look at how they hyped
the threat of last year’s hurricane season and linked it to
global warming. When it was over, only Brian Williams admitted
they had been wrong. There were no amendments about global
warming.
And there won’t be.
Since the second coming of Al Gore, the media have
tried almost every single day to prove what Time magazine has
said, that the global warming “debate has quietly ended.”
This event, Sen. Inhofe, numerous scientists, all prove
that to be a lie. The media think that if they repeat the lie
often enough, Americans will believe them.
It’s up to every one of us to stop that from happening. |
|
