Hah! Media Matters is after CNBC for its climate reporting! LOL In June, Media Matters released a report showing that business news channel CNBC had cast doubt on science in more than half of its 2013 climate change coverage. [1] As the first analysis of its kind, the report was a wake-up call: by regularly denying climate science, CNBC was falling short of its core mission of providing “fast, accurate, actionable, [and] unbiased” business news to its viewers. Environmental groups mobilized in response to the findings, collecting 42,000 signatures urging CNBC to improve its climate reporting. [2] Four months after first sounding the alarm, Media Matters conducted a follow-up study to see if CNBC had adjusted its coverage. [3] Remarkably, we found that climate denial at the network actually increased, rising from 51 percent to 55 percent of climate reporting. Worse, one-third of the segments that did accurately report the science occurred during a limited special week of climate coverage on Worldwide Exchange, which airs at 4 AM ET. [4] Help us let CNBC viewers know that they arent getting all the facts. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that climate change exists, and more and more businesses are deciding that they can’t afford to wait and see. According to a recent study, more than 70 percent of companies think climate change can significantly affect their revenues—and many are already hedging against the risk. [5] In fact, businesses are becoming leading climate advocates: more than 650 major U.S. companies have already signed a letter calling for stronger federal clean energy laws [6], and just last month, nearly two dozen leading U.S. businesses announced support for carbon pollution standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency for new power plants. [7] In business, theres a clear trend toward taking climate science seriously—but on CNBC, theres a clear trend toward dismissing and distorting it. As a network that prides itself on serving the information needs of the business community, CNBC is failing its viewers and damaging its reputation by rejecting science. Last month, we sent a letter to CNBC, offering to help develop a plan to gradually improve its climate reporting. The network dismissed this outreach. CNBC is ignoring scientists and media watchdogs, so its time to bring the truth to an audience it cant ignore: its viewers. CNBC has had multiple opportunities to address its climate denial problem, but has only let it get worse. At this point, the network can no longer claim ignorance: CNBC is intentionally misleading its viewers about climate change, and it needs to stop. To push back, Media Matters will charter a fleet of fuel-efficient mobile billboards to blanket major U.S. financial districts with ads calling out CNBC for denying climate science. Can you chip in $5 to help fund a billboard? With your participation, we can scale up our efforts to expose the bad business of CNBC’s climate denial to the viewers that determine its bottom line. Cynthia Padera (email)
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 23:40:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015