Media Bias: The Climate Change “Debate”

One could spend 48 hours a day cataloging the consistent bias that plagues the American mainstream media today. One rather obvious example of this conservative bias is in the rather absurd way in which reporters continue to debate climate change as if it’s a question of faith alone. The latest example of this framing comes from NBC’s Meet the Press (see clip on Salon), who sponsored a debate between Bill Nye (the famed children’s television science host) and Marsha Blackburn (a Republican representative with no science background). That these were the two figures chosen to focus the debate on is the first problem, as neither is an expert on climate change. But there are additional problems as well.

Another problem was the very nature of the debate. A children’s television host would essentially spout what all sane members of the planet now know – that 97 percent of climate scientists claim global warming is a reality and is caused by human activity. Then the Republican congresswoman would ignore the reality and spout her own misguided “facts.” These included the arguments of two global-warming-doubters, one whose data and arguments are consistently discredited by respected scientists and the other who recently changed his mind. Host David Gregory did his best with the guests he had chosen, but essentially treated the issue as if there is any doubt among real scientists. And so another issue in American politics continues to be reported as if both sides have equal footing and it is a question of choice and not fact.

And this strategy has worked – as approximately 50 percent of the country still believes the conservative lie, holding back legislation that could save the planet before it is too late. Like too much that occurs within conservative, aka mainstream, media today – they hide behind the cloak of “objectivity,” failing to actually question the lies politicians tell or the skew that is put on almost any story. They decide on the narrative they will follow and like the reporter with Bronze medalist Bode Miller last night, keep pounding that narrative down the throats of the American public with little regard for its truth or consequences. One wonders if a new Woodward and Bernstein will ever emerge from this miasmic cloud of constructed uncertainty (at least beyond the Internet, where the ability to discern truth from lies becomes even more complicated).