Media Manipulation Big three networks highlight own irrelevance by ignoring Climategate email scandal
| 04 December 2009
The story has all the makings of a big news story and a world class whodunit. An illegal break in leads to charges of a global conspiracy. Some of the world’s leading experts tackling one of the most pressing issues of our day and age are forced to launch a defense of themselves. Two experts fall under the specter of investigations, Congress holds hearings into the affair, the Internet is set afire by one phrase - Climategate.
For two weeks the story rages and grows in intensity and yet somehow, the big three television networks are missing in action. Whether the story is just smoke or if there is fire behind it, the hacking of one of the world’s major climate research centers and the fallout from it is big news. By ignoring the story, ABC, CBS and NBC are highlighting the failures of themselves and much of the mainstream media. Perhaps more importantly they are contributing to their own demise and irrelevance.
Since the Climategate story broke two weeks ago today on November 20th, the story has been covered by all cable news networks including FOX News and CNN. Through it all, the big three are nowhere to be found. Not one mention of the event has been made on the networks’ morning or evening news broadcasts.
Online news outlets lead the way
While they are asleep at the wheel, every news website has new stories posted daily detailing the emails, the fallout and the investigations. The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and most other traditional print media have stories on their websites. CNN.com, MSNBC.com and even the big three network’s own web operations have covered the story.
Examiner.com has been at the forefront with the Climate Change Examiner launching coverage on the first day and continuously since. From the Essex County Conservative Examiner to the Baltimore Weather Examiner and across the country, Examiner.com has provided complete news, analysis and opinion about Climategate. More than 10,000 pages on Examiner.com alone refer to the event.
To pretend this story simply doesn’t exist is damning to journalism. The so-called ‘news’ media are protecting scientists because it exposes their underbelly. That’s not journalism. That’s a cover-up.
~ Media Research Center President Brent Bozell
Despite all of this, the big three ignore the developing story while covering topics that certainly would appear to be much less newsworthy. According to the Business & Media Institute, through Wednesday ABC, CBS and NBC mentioned professional golfer Tiger Woods’ car crash 37 times. They have also covered such breaking news topics as an orphaned moose, a baby panda and the color of tablecloths at President Obama’s recent state dinner.
Charges of bias and supression
NBC has come under fire previously for their tendency to push a ‘green agenda’ at the behest of their majority owner up until Wednesday, General Electric. GE stands to make billions of dollars off of cap and trade legislation through its various business interests and the network recently began a concerted effort to push green causes across its spectrum of programming. This has many wondering if the network is under pressure to ignore the story.
Coverage of the event on local television station affiliates of the big three has been hit or miss. In Denver, local television station KUSA covered the story last week and spoke to one of the scientists involved in the scandal, Kevin Trenberth.
Other local stations, despite being close to the story, ignore it. The Climate Change Examiner has spoken to two television meteorologists who approached their newsrooms about the story and both were rebuffed. It is interesting to note that one could be termed a ‘skeptic’ of the manmade climate change theory and the other is a ‘believer’ but both felt the story was significant and should be covered. Both came away with the impression that the story was being suppressed by station management or others farther up the chain of command.
Amid a dwindling audience and a loss of relevance, the fact ABC, CBS and NBC ignore the story is baffling to many. Despite that, the story continues to grow in scope and new revelations are made every day. Many are seeing their non-coverage of the event as a microcosm of the continued failure of network television news.
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