NBC Ignored Pro-Life March, But Hailed Greenpeace Banner Stunt at Mt. Rushmore
In January, NBC News couldn't breathe a single word about the thousands of pro-lifers who came to Washington for the annual March for Life. But Brian Williams hailed 12 hard-left Greenpeace activists illegally hanging a banner at Mount Rushmore on Wednesday's Nightly News and showed their banner on screen for a full 15 seconds. Williams announced:
Look at what they did to [Mount] Rushmore and Abe Lincoln today. Three Greenpeace climbers rappelled down to hang a 65-foot-tall banner featuring President Obama's face. There were 12 arrests in all of environmental activists. They say they timed their message to coincide with that G-8 conference going on in Italy, and to remind the president that great presidents show leadership.
The banner read "America honors leaders, not politicians. Stop global warming." Obama's eyes and nose appeared between the sentences. Note Williams never even called Greenpeace "liberal."
NBC's free time for Greenpeace even acknowledged they were using the activist group's own photo. On screen was the photo credit "KATE DAVISON / GREENPEACE."
Ironically, NBC, the same network that aired hour upon hour of Al Gore's Live Earth concerts, didn't air a single story on the House "cap and trade" bill until after it passed. Then there was this brief story on the Saturday night news of June 27:
LESTER HOLT, anchor: In Washington, the House last night narrowly passed a sweeping climate change bill. President Obama says it's a bold and necessary step to fight global warming and encourage a new era of green energy. Critics, however, say the new cap and trade system to limit greenhouse gases will lead to higher energy costs. Today the president used his weekly Web address to push the Senate to follow the House's lead.
OBAMA: We cannot be afraid of the future and we must not be prisoners of the past. Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests that there's somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth. It's just not true.
HOLT: The climate bill will be one of the topics tomorrow on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Naturally, Greenpeace complains from the left that the House bill is way too weak:
It] sets targets far below those mandated by science - largely because the fossil fuels industries were allowed a huge amount of influence in revising the legislation. The bill is so weak that it may actually spur a new generation of dirty coal and dangerous nuclear plants.
The excuse we're given is that this legislation is all that is politically feasible. But the climate doesn't care about what's politically feasible. If we don't take action in line with the science, we face catastrophic climate change.
In President Obama's inaugural address, he vowed to "restore science to its rightful place." ACES, which will soon be voted on in the Senate, falls woefully short of that mark.
-Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
