CNN Ignores Climate Science, Embraces Science Denier Meme

CNN almost completely ignored last year's landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, but this week CNN.com extensively covered a discredited climate science denier theory that was mentioned in a non-peer-reviewed study.

If "objective" news outlets were proactively trying to get people to not care about the climate crisis, how would it look different than what we have now?

Most Awkward Climate #LeaveItThere Ever?

I'm used to stories about the impacts of climate change that leave out the cause altogether. But a recent CNN story on a huge blob of overheated water off America's Pacific Coast set a new standard for brushing past climate science while still giving it the cold shoulder.

First, Slate's Eric Holthaus explains the blob's connection to global warming:

Besides El Niño, a more worrying, longer-term trend is also taking shape. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a decades-long periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean that tends to favor bursts of accelerated global warming. As I wrote last October, the Pacific appears to be in the midst of a shift into a new warm phase that could last 20 years or so.

The PDO—or, “the blob” as it’s been referred to recently—is starting to freak out some scientists. There are emerging signs of a major shift in the Pacific Ocean’s food chain, including a dearth of plankton, tropical fish sightings near Alaska, and thousands of starving sea lion pups stranded on the California coast. As Earth’s largest ocean, what happens in the Pacific affects the weather virtually planet-wide, and that means an “imminent” jump in global warming may have already begun—spurred on by the PDO.

The PDO has skyrocketed to record-high monthly levels over the past four months. In fact, there have only been four other similarly warm four-month bursts of the PDO in the last 115 years (in 1940, 1941, 1993, and 1997). A quick look at the historical record (for both 15 years prior to and 15 years after the bursts) shows that global temperatures rose at twice the rate of the 20th century average immediately after these bursts.

Combined with the overall long-term warming trend from climate change, the emergence of the PDO warm phase means the current state of the world’s oceans has little precedent.

CNN's story never mentions global warming - in fact, just when it feels like they're about to, the story abruptly ends. "But other scientists are saying it's more than that," says Jennifer Gray - then it cuts to black. No explanation, CNN just leaves it there.

CNN: All Sizzle, No Science

The same CNN that laid off its entire science, environment and technology team sent an entire brigade to produce a live feed of Bill and Hillary Clinton flipping steaks in Iowa 16 months before the caucus:

The media scrum as the Clintons do the grilling photo op at the Steak Fry, from our live CNN camera in the middle pic.twitter.com/9g0yjy0756
— Steve Brusk (@stevebruskCNN) September 14, 2014

CNN never pretended the science layoffs were about money. CNN turns $600 million annual profits and is owned by Time Warner, a $60 billion company that's reported $3 billion profits in consective years. It could hire 100 science journalists, but it chooses instead to endlessly debate if global warming is fake anytime it's cold in winter.

CNN can afford to produce world-class journalism. As Jay Rosen writes, it's made the choice to instead to produce state fair-quality crap.

CNN's Climate Bamboozlement 1, Jon Stewart's Satire 0

"Global warming is a total hoax. And I'll tell you how I know: Because it’s cold, today, where I live," said Jon Stewart at the open of last night's Daily Show. "That’s jus’ science." Ha ha! Satire ... right?

Little did Stewart know that just 10 blocks away at CNN's New York studios, Piers Morgan was hosting a segment asking if global warming was a total hoax because it was cold, today, where he lives. And it wasn't even the only CNN segment last night that prominently featured a professional denier lying about climate science.

Your move, Stewart.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Daily Show clip via Talking Points Memo

How to Confuse the Public for Fun & Profit, CNN Edition

Run a special on climate change that doesn't mention carbon pollution at all, then poll people and act surprised when more of them don't connect climate change to carbon pollution.

Update: Much more on this from Media Matters.

Sunday on CNN: The Coming Storms

Update: The special made no mention of the carbon pollution that's fueling climate change. "It was very well done for showing climate impacts, but doing an hour documentary on climate change and not mentioning fossil fuels is like doing an hour on sexually-transmitted diseases and not mentioning sex," former CNN producer Peter Dykstra & current DailyClimate.org publisher told Climate Progress.

On Sunday January 6th at 8pm ET, CNN Presents will focus on how climate change is fueling extreme weather, premiering "The Coming Storms":

Heating of Pot No Reason for Alarm, Reports Frog Media

It's not true that if you slowly turn up the heat, a frog won't notice that his surroundings are getting hotter - the frog will jump out of the pot if he can. That's an allegory - but whether humans will recognize & respond to their warming climate is a very real & open question.

Mainstream media coverage of Friday night's extreme storms in the Mid-Atlantic region shows no sign of hoppiness:

• The Washington Post has no mention of climate impacts in its main story on the storm. Even its sidebar story detailing the record-shattering temperatures that fueled the derecho waits until its final sentence to say the rare storm "raises the question about the possible role of man-made climate warming" - but says any judgement must be left to after the frog has already boiled future case studies. Next to the storm coverage is an in-depth look at tar sands, one of the most carbon pollution-intensive fuels on the planet, but true to modern American journalism's View From Nowhere, the Post makes no connection between the two stories, not even on the editorial page.
• The New York Times, NPR and CNN make no mention of climate change in their stories on the storms. Last night, CBS Radio News blamed the storms on "Mother Nature," skipping past ignorance to outright denial.
• Meanwhile out West, the Associated Press reports nationwide droughts are canceling fireworks displays for many states. Climate scientists have been warning for years that global warming will result in deeper droughts and more intense wildfires, yet the AP makes no mention of climate impacts.

Reading these stories, I can't help but think of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. Past dominant societies have proved quite capable of blissfully ignoring all evidence of impending doom. So far, America's media is proving no different. Will 2012's record temperatures and extreme weather change that? Or be just another milepost on the road to disaster?

CNN Lays Off 7 Staffers, Own Credibility

CNN has announced it's laying off its entire science and technology staff, eliminating seven positions. The staffers cut include Miles O'Brien, a pioneer in aggressive broadcast climate change reporting, and widely respected producer Peter Dykstra.

As the Columbia Journalism Review's Curtis Brainard writes, "the decision to eliminate the positions seems particularly misguided at a time when world events would seem to warrant expanding science and environmental staff."

The cuts are part of a broader trend in the news business -- cutting science reporting positions just as we reach a critical time in our relationship with the environment.

We're lucky we have websites and blogs to help fill the void. ClimateProgress.org, Grist.org, The Wonk Room and many others provide more comprehensive coverage than you could get from any broadcast news source.

But do those outlets have the resources to send staffers around the country and around the world to provide in-depth coverage? Unfortunately, no. Only the heavy hitters like CNN can do that. And while the network says it remains committed to its Planet in Peril series, the occasional special is no subsitute for continuing coverage.

And You Wonder Why They Don't Ask About Global Warming

You're not going to believe who's sponsoring CNN's convention coverage.

No, wait. Maybe you will. Depends how cynical you are.

Anyway, ThinkProgress.org has the shocking and/or depressing details.

What's More Important, Global Warming or Louis Farrakhan's Endorsement?

Yesterday I wrote on Raising Kaine:

Voters don't care about global warming, so the candidates don't talk about it, so it doesn't come up at the debates.

Right? That's what the Conventional Wisdom is in Washington. And of course, the Conventional Wisdom is never wrong.

But what if it actually works the other way around? Let's try the conventional wisdom backwards. The coal industry sponsors the debates, so global warming doesn't come up. The candidates don't get a chance to talk about it, so it's not on the minds of voters.

There have been five presidential debates on CNN this year, all sponsored by the coal industry. Total number of climate questions asked? Zero. And the Sunday morning talk show hosts aren't doing much better. Sounds like the coal industry is getting what it's paid for.

Will tonight's debate on MSNBC be any different? We'll see.

Did Tim Russert and Brian Williams ask about global warming? Or renewable energy? Or anything even vaguely related to the environment?

No, no, and no. But they were busy talking about other critical issues of national importance, like who Louis Farrakhan endorsed.

So it was up to the candidates to sneak in a few planks from their climate action platforms. From Hillary Clinton:

I helped to pass legislation to begin a training program for green collar jobs. I want to see people throughout Ohio being trained to do the work that will put solar panels on roofs, install wind turbines, do geothermal, take advantage of biofuels, and I know that if we had put $5 billion into the stimulus package to really invest in the training and the tax incentives that would have created those jobs as the Democrats wanted, as I originally proposed, we would be on the way to creating those.

You know, take a country like Germany. They made a big bet on solar power. They have a smaller economy and population than ours.

They've created several hundred thousand new jobs, and these are jobs that can't be outsourced. These are jobs that have to be done in Youngstown, in Dayton, in Cincinnati. These are jobs that we can create here with the right combination of tax incentives, training, and a commitment to following through.

And from Barack Obama:

We have to look at energy and the potential for creating green jobs that can not just save on our energy costs but, more importantly, can create jobs in building windmills that will produce manufacturing jobs here in Ohio, can put rural communities back on their feet by working on alternative fuels, making buildings more energy efficient. We can hire young people who are out of work and put them to work in the trade.

But hey, I shouldn't be too hard on the mainstream media. If they did their jobs and properly covered the environment, why would you need to read The Green Miles? So in that case, thank you, Tim Russert and Brian Williams, for refusing to talk about global warming!

CNN: Global Warming "a Largely Unscientific Hoax"

The Green Miles' roommate, while liberal, tends not to be overtly political. He's a journalist, so he see things more in shades of gray than black and white. Also, he's not overtly anything. It's just not his style.

So when he burst into the living room in anger after he overheard Mary Matalin on CNN, she must have said something pretty outrageous:

BLITZER: (reading Matalin quote) "I don't think he [Sen. John McCain] rests comfortably anywhere that conservatives would call home today. If it was true yesterday, it's not true for tomorrow's issues. The ones that he has chosen to take a lead on are the ones that conservatives either don't prioritize or flat-out loathe."

MATALIN: Like --

BLITZER: Like what?

MATALIN: -- some global warming issues. But he's going --

BLITZER: They loathe that?

MATALIN: Because it's a largely unscientific hoax. And it's a political concoction.

BLITZER: But he believes with [Sen.] Joe Lieberman [I-CT] -- he's co-sponsoring legislation on that.

MATALIN: He's going to have to put together an energy policy that has elements of conservation but productivity, and reduces our dependence on oil. He has said that. Some of the other issues, though --

BLITZER: But on global warming he's a true believer.

MATALIN: But he's not going to prioritize that, because that's not where the country is right now. And you haven't heard him prioritizing that.

"Unscientific hoax?!" my roommate shouted at the television. "Are you insane?!"

As Media Matters details, it's not the first time a CNN analyst has asserted blatant falsehoods when it comes to global warming.

When it comes to the science of global warming, there is no debate about whether it's happening or whether our greenhouse gas emissions are to blame. There's debate about the degree to which we'll warm, how fast, and what we can do to cure the planet's fever.

There's confusion in the public's mind only because conservative pundits keep making stuff up about climate science and networks like CNN keep giving them free air time to do it. For the straight science, check out RealClimate.

As for whether McCain will "prioritize that," it's a bit of a puzzle. While he co-sponsored climate legislation with Sen. Joe Lieberman, he says he won't support the current version of the bill, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, unless it includes more subsidies for nuclear power. If his ultimate goal is to cut carbon emissions, why is he prioritizing the nuclear industry over climate action? Odd.

Planet in Peril & Heroes of Our Planet

A quick heads up on two upcoming events:

From the Bottom Up
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Grosvenor Auditorium, National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
Member: $15/Non-Member: $18

In the summer of 1997, a college student from East Moline, Illinois, CHAD PREGRACKE, set himself a quixotic goal: to clean up the garbage-infested banks of the Mississippi near his hometown. He started simply, by pushing a wheelbarrow along the riverbank and picking up garbage as he went. Before the summer was over, Chad's quest had caught the attention first of
local media, and later the Associated Press and CNN, and the self-described "river rat" became an unlikely hero, leveraging his newfound celebrity into corporate support for his cause and branching out across America. Now the author of a new National Geographic book, From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers, Pregracke will share his inspiring mission to clean up our waterways.

For more details on this and future events, check out National Geographic's Heroes of Our Planet page!

Also, CNN's Planet in Peril special debuts tonight (Tuesday October 23rd) at 9pm eastern. If you can't catch it tonight, it will rerun tomorrow night at the same time.

Let me know if you catch either of these events! I'm always happy to post your reviews here.

CNN Runs Hour-Long Informercial for Conservative Nut's Anti-Climate Action Book

I was starting a new post about the series of recent reports on the DC area's air quality ... but then I saw it.

Glenn Beck on CNN promoting his special, "Exposed: A Climate of Fear."

Apparently Beck has embraced the post-denial, re-framed conservative talking points, which go like this:

Climate change may be happening, but (choose one):
A) It's not our fault
B) There's nothing we can do about it
C) Even if there was something we could do about it, it wouldn't be worth the economic cost
D) Is climate change really so bad? New Orleans wasn't so great outside of the French Quarter, anyway.

For those of you not familiar with Glenn Beck, here's John from AMERICAblog:

Of course, this is the same CNN host who called Mrs. Clinton a "bitch" two weeks ago, so why stop there? This is the same CNN host who suggested that all Muslim-Americans are working with the terrorists, that the word "faggot" isn't really much of a slur, that women should be referred to by their weight, that he "hates" the families of the victims of September 11, that Hurricane Katrina victims are "scumbags," and that Senator Obama is so "colorless... he might as well be white."

But hey, CNN wants ratings. And they've apparently learned that racism, sexism and homophobia work for FOX, so why not CNN? Very sad.

A great analysis of Beck comes from mcjoan at DailyKos:

My question is not for serial moron Glenn Beck. My question is for CNN. How can you continue to have this man on your network? And Keith Olbermann, I love you man, but Beck shouldn't be today's worst person in the world. It's the person who gave him that air time.

And CNN is not just employing this man at their network -- they're giving him an hour-long infomercial to promote his next book, which -- you guessed it! -- will argue we should do nothing about climate change. It's due out in November 2007, titled An Inconvenient Book.

So how can you send a message? Vote with your remote -- tell CNN you'll change the channel if you see Glenn Beck's face on a program or promo.