The Paris climate talks have been underway for four days, and broadcast network coverage included journalists marveling at the French security presence and praising the talks’ goals.
Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2, the morning and evening news shows on ABC, NBC, and CBS collectively spent more than 30 minutes covering the U.N. climate conference in Paris, called COP 21.
Conveniently missing from those reports was the fact that carbon dioxide emissions from coal and oil hit a 27-year low in April 2015, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Another fact the networks didn’t mention was that the U.S. oil and gas industry spent $90 billion on emissions control technology between 2000 and 2014, according to a September 2015 study by the American Petroleum Institute.
The broadcasts also failed to mention the economic costs of reducing fossil fuel consumption in the U.S., or the many benefits of fossil fuels which have brought economic growth, lifted millions out of poverty and remain steady, reliable and inexpensive.
Instead, the networks focused on pushing the conference participants’ goal to radically limit carbon emissions and hyping President Barack Obama’s involvement.
CBS Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan succinctly summed up the overall Paris coverage on Nov. 30 by saying, “The goal in Paris is to limit global warming to 3.6 degrees fahrenheit from pre industrial levels, but the terror threat is diverting attention.”
The recent terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people made security one of the top priorities for the ongoing talks. Both President Obama and the media even used the ISIS focus as another opportunity to push climate change rhetoric.
“What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshalling our best efforts to save it,” Obama said.
“The president linked the purpose of this summit, climate change, to the headline-dominating fight against terrorists,” NBC Capitol Hill Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell gushed, as she introduced those remarks on Today Dec. 1.
O’Donnell also hyped Obama’s “act of defiance” against terrorists by dining with the French president at a public restaurant.
