“A hostile climate: Critics cry foul on the President’s climate change agenda,” was how Fox News’ Bret Baier introduced his only segment on the National Climate Assessment (NCA), where he hosted a panel of critics who derided the report. The report — prepared by 300 experts, guided by a 60-member Advisory Committee — was clear that the effects of climate change are here now, impacting the lives and livelihoods of people across the country.
Most cable news coverage of the NCA focused on the contents of the report, and explained clearly to viewers that the U.S. is already dealing with the impacts of climate change, and that they’re only going to get worse. But some took a different tack, ignoring the scientific conclusions and instead questioning whether there were actually any impacts of climate change, or whether it was necessary to take action to mitigate them.
Here’s a sampling of some of the most misguided, distracting, or plainly ridiculous moments in media coverage of the report:
And that wasn’t all. George Will also took some time to speculate whether climate scientists were in agreement on climate change due to “peer pressure,” and “money from the biggest source of direct research in this country.”
“Scientists are not saints in white laboratory smocks,” Will said. “I’m not impressed by consensus.”
Pat Robertson’s segment on the 700 Club, via Right Wing Watch, also sought to cast doubt on the report’s findings by purporting that those who want action on climate change are actually not even genuinely concerned with curbing global warming, but rather destroying America.