Top Political Talk Show Hosts Dedicate 0.1 Percent Of Their Questions To Global Warming
Top Political Talk Show Hosts Dedicate 0.1 Percent Of Their Questions To Global Warming
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Al Gore explained the severity of the climate crisis. “We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency — a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential,” he declared.
But Sunday political talk show hosts have ignored the issue. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) today launched a campaign publicizing the fact that the top five TV political journalists have dodged the issue of global warming this year:
[I]n the more than 120 interviews and debates with the [presidential] candidates in 2007, the five political show hosts collectively have asked 2,275 questions. Of those questions, these journalists have only uttered the words “global warming” or “climate change” three times. More over, only 24 of these questions touched even remotely on the issue of global climate change.
Watch a video highlighting the questions they chose to ask instead:
Ironically, Fox, which has repeatedly downplayed the climate change threat, leads the pack with two questions mentioning global warming this year:
– NBC’s Tim Russert: 664 questions, 0 mentioned global warming
– CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: 311 questions, 1 mentioned global warming
– ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: 661 questions, 0 mentioned global warming
– CBS’s Bob Scheiffer: 212 questions, 0 mentioned global warming
– Fox’s Chris Wallace: 427 questions, 2 mentioned global warming
And the questions weren’t necessarily substantive. On May 6, Wallace asked Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT): “Let’s turn to domestic policy where your big issue is energy independence and also fighting global warming. … [Wouldn't a carbon tax] put a real drag on the economy?”
LCV’s campaign is urging political talk show hosts to 1) publicly acknowledge that global warming is an urgent threat, and 2) make the issue a priority in their interviews with all candidates. Sign LCV’s petition HERE.
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Why should they talk about it? The Sunday morning talk shows are about insider Village gossip, not (gasp) issues.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:06 pmTo discuss global warming might require the host to actually do research to avoid looking foolish.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:09 pmA lot of gaseous emissions, no pertinent questions.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pmYes, I think more questions should be asked about global warming. And anything else having to do with our environment.
However, I’m less interested in the amount of time that talk show hosts devote to the subject than I am in the amount of time that candidates do.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pmThat video would’ve been much funnier if they’d used the Benny Hill theme instead…
And just as sad.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:11 pmmissmolly is correct. The day that one of the candidates turns to the talking head and says, “You know, you haven’t asked me one question about the most profound issue of our generation, and I think the American people need to know about where I stand on Global Warming rather more urgently than they need to know about where I get my hair done, so I’m going to go ahead and answer the question that wasn’t asked anyway.” will be the day when democracy truly returns to the United States.
I’m not holding my breath.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:13 pmWell, the EEOB building in D.C. certainly warmed up this morning, eh?
December 19th, 2007 at 1:15 pmHowever, I’m less interested in the amount of time that talk show hosts devote to the subject than I am in the amount of time that candidates do.
Comment by missmolly — December 19, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
And even more important – what they’re saying. We don’t need candidates to just stick a paragraph in their stump speech saying “Global warming is a big problem/Something must be done about global warming/somebody has to do something quick or it’s curtains for us/curtains, I tells you.” I want to see some workable policy proposals.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:16 pmThe bottom line is the corporate media talks about the presidential campaign like a horse race, but never addresses the issues or the positions of the candidates. You will hear how Hillary is surging or how Ron Paul raised a ton of cash but they will never tell you anything about WHY Hillary might be slipping or surging or WHAT Ron Paul is saying to attract that kind of donations. It has become pitiful.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:17 pmWha? Global Warming? An Issue?
December 19th, 2007 at 1:18 pmWha? Hey, Joey, check with the writers! Did we miss something?
Wha? Hey, Joey, check with the writers! Did we miss something?
Comment by RUCerious — December 19, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
I think they’re still on strike.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:19 pmGreat. Now Fox can say they have discussed global warming twice as much as any other network.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:21 pmHowever, I’m less interested in the amount of time that talk show hosts devote to the subject than I am in the amount of time that candidates do.
Comment by missmolly — December 19, 2007 @ 1:10 pm
Frankly, I have no interest in talk show hosts spending time on the subject unless they have someone in the other chair who has a clue about the subject. No movie stars, no dimwit politicians, no weathermen. Otherwise, they’ll just be rehashing whatever stupid buzz words are currently acceptable.
Then again, I have no interest in talk show hosts. Or talk shows.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:31 pm“Top Political Talk Show Hosts…”
I think I found your problem.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:37 pmMAD? DISGUSTED? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT….
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susan.bunda@cnn.com, christopher.crommettt@cnn.com, greg.d’alba@cnn.com, jonathan.davies@cnn.com, Richard Davis@cnn.com, suan.grant@cnn.com, ken.jautz@cnn.com, parisa.khoravi@cnn.com, nancy.lane@cnn.com, tony.maddox@cnn.com, david.payne@cnn.com, jim.walton@cnn.com, jack.womack@cnn.com
howard.kurtz@cnn.com, Christiane.Amanpour@cnn.com, wolf.blitzer@cnn.com, larry.king@cnn.com, kyra.philips@cnn.com, soledad.o’brien@cnn.com, sanjay.gupta@cnn.com, anderson.cooper@cnn.com, suzanne.malveaux@cnn.com
December 19th, 2007 at 1:39 pmI think it’s rather funny that we can ask a candidate if they believe in God or if abortion is evil or what they would do to solve the oldest religious conflict in world history, but we can’t ask them if they think global warming is real.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:39 pmcorporate fascist media putting their mouth whee the money is, not where it can be lost for them.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:46 pmFrankly, I have no interest in talk show hosts spending time on the subject unless they have someone in the other chair who has a clue about the subject.
Comment by gummitch — December 19, 2007 @ 1:31 pm
Excellent point. We’ve suffered enough from the John Colemans of the world.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:47 pmgeez… poor family. Right before hte holidays too.
:(
December 19th, 2007 at 1:51 pmwhat’s the fuss? that’s just one of the critical issues those hairsprayed bobbleheads has conveniently “missed” covering.
those sunday political talkshows are about as useful as the Aug. 6, 2001 PDB.
also – too bad about DK’s brother. condolences.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:52 pmHAHAHAHA. Don’t ya just love it!
I wish that the Democrats would talk about this issue 24/7.
Comment by Hitlery for Dog Catcher — December 19, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
So which troll took on a new name?
December 19th, 2007 at 1:59 pmToo bad global warming doesn’t have a missing blonde white girl.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:02 pmComment by toasterhead — December 19, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
Jeebus Herbert Kreist, toaster, you were the only one who got this little pun…!
December 19th, 2007 at 2:04 pmAppalling! And this is precisely why the MSM cannot be trusted to bring us relevant information! Internet news ALL THE WAY!
Boycott the MSM today.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pmThe syndrome is called “eating our own” which is what we are doing by maintaining this level of ignorance.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:06 pmThis isn’t “bunker mentality”; it’s “sinker mentality”.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:07 pm*Breaking* Dennis Kucinich’s brother has been found dead,
Comment by Dr. Matt — December 19, 2007 @ 1:47 pm
They’re reporting no signs of foul play. I’ll reserve my comments.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:07 pmGlobal warming is not NEWS,
December 19th, 2007 at 2:08 pmGlobal cooling is not NEWS,
The only thing new is getting billed for it.
US Corn Boom Threatens Sea Life: Pesticide Runoff Continues To Pollute Gulf
Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since the Depression. And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price.
The nation’s corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to a growing “dead zone†– a 7,900-square-mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs, and shrimp suffocate.
the lifeless spot.
…With demand for corn booming, some researchers fear the dead zone will expand rapidly, with devastating consequences.
“We might be coming close to a tipping point,†said Matt Rota, director of the water resources program for the New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration Network, an environmental group. “The ecosystem might change or collapse as opposed to being just impacted.â€
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/18/5880/
December 19th, 2007 at 2:13 pmNow that President Bush has signed higher CAFE requirements into law, there is no threat of global warming.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:15 pmAppalling! And this is precisely why the MSM cannot be trusted to bring us relevant information! Internet news ALL THE WAY!
Boycott the MSM today.
Comment by Veritas — December 19, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
You’ll really enjoy this piece where Norman Solomon takes Glenn Beck to the woodshed and reveals all the corporate whoring (and conflicts of interest) going on at all the major networks.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/19/5890/
December 19th, 2007 at 2:21 pmOn the subject of global warming:
One would think that countries that committed to the Kyoto treaty are doing a better job of curtailing carbon emissions. One would also think that the United States, the only country that does not even intend to ratify, keeps on emitting carbon dioxide at growth levels much higher than those who signed.
And one would be wrong….
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/12/kyoto_schmyoto.html
December 19th, 2007 at 2:26 pmI have to disagree with Rush Limbaugh about the CAFE bill that was signed into law today. He felt it was a cave to global warming advocates, and I see it merely as a means of weening the US off foreign oil, so to me, it has nothing to do with global warming.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pmwho cares about global warming?
December 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pmwhat’s important is how much the candidates spend on a hair cut!
“HAHAHAHA. Don’t ya just love it!
I wish that the Democrats would talk about this issue 24/7.”
y’know what?, HfDC? – If GW “Capt. Hazelwood” Bush hadn’t run the ship of state onto the rocks for the sake of his Napoleonic ego, the D’s probably would be talking about global warming 24/7, and it probably would hinder their campaigns, but he did, so they can’t, and the result will be something that will have you rending your garments and gnashing your teeth for the next 20 years.
Congratulations.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pm@38…Finding the potato of responsibility waaayyyy tooooo hot, the Captain cleverly tossed it, clear across the ocean.
Boldly played, Captain.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pmhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COMMENTARY/10575140
December 19th, 2007 at 3:12 pmnow rogerdodger is going to show us how far he can fling a tater.
give us a minute, guys, so we can place some bets as to which righty can throw the hot potato the furthest.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pmWhy are people who are willing to do nothing about global warming despite overwelming evidence the same as those willing to go bomb and/or invade countries based on little or no evidence?
Why is ‘the sky falling’ when it comes to ambiguously percieved threats from groups incapable of following through on those threats, yet record-breaking hurricanes, floods, wind and rain, heat waves and fire have no impact on emergency preparation and response at the very least?
The Gulf Coast still looks like a storm just hit, over two years after the storm actually hit. On the other hand, impractical liquid bomb stories float around, and within days there’s a new list of things you can’t take on the plane.
Why wait for a smoking gun in the form of a Category 6 hurricane striking the east coast? The cost of doing nothing could be your life.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pmCan’t we take it as a good thing?
I mean, CNN is CLEARLY not shy about the climate crisis – they did a 3 night special on it. I see it as being the case where these anchors aren’t discussing the issue because it is widely accepted to be an undisputed problem.
It should be more of an issue in debates, for sure, but other than that I consider it a victory when global warming comes up as often as support of evolution does. Both are just simply reality.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:31 pmpatience, grasshoppers, Mother Nature has lots of lessons to teach, and she doesn’t operate on our calendars.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:12 pm#48, Captain Mantastic,
While those numbers clearly indicate that other countries problems are growing much faster than the US, and point to future problems ahead, it would be good to see absolute numbers, as opposed to percent increases. I am sure the US generates more carbon emissions than anyone else.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:21 pmComment by Southern Man — December 19, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
Although you missed the point of my post, you concede that some planning must go into the change in the environment we are experiencing. You must not get out much or you would have seen areas still devastated by the storm(s) like I have. My point is that the effects of the changing environment is real and ongoing and a wide sampling of the population is affected on a daily basis, unlike the chickenlittle-terrorist-sky-is-falling scenerio.
December 19th, 2007 at 5:55 pmCan we Start Over . I mean with everything the human race , the news , because it looks like there are people who just want to whistle into the abyss .
December 19th, 2007 at 7:17 pmIt’s curious how a “non issue” thread attracts so much GW deniers. Especially when the thread is long time over, and they spect no rebuttal of their talking points from people who know more about the issue than they, but are in live threads.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:22 amU.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007
Here’s the link to this hate-filled reich-wing group of blind losers:
the U.S.Senate,
controlled by Harry Reid (D-Nev)
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=f80a6386-802a-23ad-40c8-3c63dc2d02cb
Now what do you say?
December 20th, 2007 at 4:59 pm