In a speech June 25, President Barack Obama called for the Environmental Protection Agency to put limits for carbon dioxide emissions on power plants, higher fuel efficiency standards, more taxpayer-backed loans for renewable energy companies
His remarks came on “one of the hottest days of the year,” according to ABC anchor Diane Sawyer. Nevermind that summer just began, so one would hope it would be one of the hottest days of the year. The brief mention of Obama’s plans was followed up with an “extreme weather” story.
All three broadcast networks covered the speech that evening, but NBC was the only one to do a story, instead of just an anchor read.
“Nightly News” was also the one broadcast of the three to admit not everyone would be thrilled by the proposals. NBC’s chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson said that the “coal lobby” was unhappy, but then undermined it saying she has spoken to the CEO of Dominion Resources, Thomas Farrell II, who said given “enough time and the right technology” the industry would be able to “make this work.”
The uncritical coverage of the president’s speech is consistent with the networks’ bias on the issue of global warming. MRC’s Business and Media Institute found that in 2013 the networks ignored news of a “lull” in global warming, cited studies and scientists promoting climate alarmism 8 times more often than critical ones and often tried to link global warming to weather events and natural disasters like the Moore, Okla., tornado and Superstorm Sandy.
