Networks Hype Global Warming Report, Urge 'Limiting Man-Made Greenhouse Gases'
On Tuesday night, all three network evening newscasts ran with stories
on a 
newly released government report blaming man-made climate change
for recent extreme weather. ABC's World News led its newscast with the charge, as anchor Diane Sawyer sounded the alarm: "Hot
planet. The world is heating up. And for the first time, a U.S.
Government-backed report ties that searing heat, those epic storms, to
man-made global warming."
Sawyer cited a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration as a "major alert about the speed of climate change on
this planet" and wondered if the study represented "a tipping point" on
the issue. Turning to weather editor Sam Champion, Sawyer hoped there
was "still time to do something." Champion proclaimed: "I would say is, now is the time we start limiting man-made greenhouse gases if we're starting to see that that is exactly what other studies are showing."
On NBC's Nightly News,
correspondent Anne Thompson used National Climatic Data Center Director
Tom Karl to blame "human activity" for "increasing greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere" and leading to more extreme weather.
Thompson then added: "Gases like carbon dioxide, created when we burn
fossil fuels. Gases that trap heat and warm the earth."
On the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley explained to
viewers: "We've been rep
orting on a lot of extreme weather. And today,
for the very first time, government scientists are saying that these
events are likely connected to man-made climate change." Correspondent
Wyatt Andrews followed by declaring: "The report says last year's record
drought in Texas was made roughly 20 times more
likely because of man-made climate change, specifically meaning warming
that comes from greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide."
Strangely, Andrews concluded the segment by telling Pelley: "You're
going to see a lot of scientists criticizing this as a guess, but NOAA
for the first time is arguing, Scott, that this is science." What made
that statement so odd was that no such critics were featured in the
coverage. Such skeptics were also absent from ABC and NBC.
In addition, the networks completely ignored a new study published in the journal Nature that actually showed a cooling trend over the centuries.
Here is a full transcript of the July 10 World News report:
6:30PM ET TEASE:
DIANE SAWYER: Hot planet. The world is heating up. And for the first
time, a U.S. Government-backed report ties that searing heat, those epic
storms, to man-made global warming.
6:31PM ET SEGMENT:
SAWYER:
We begin with a new report and a major alert about the speed of climate
change on this planet. Hundreds of scientists from around the globe
saying today there is evidence that global warming is accelerating. Sea
levels rising, greenhouse gases mounting, glaciers melting. And for the
first time, a government-backed report links the recent wild weather to
man-made causes. So is this a kind of tipping point? ABC's weather
editor Sam Champion begins by breaking it down for us.
SAM CHAMPION: The extreme weather of 2011.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Oh, gosh that is a monster tornado.
CHAMPION: The worst drought in a decade. Even the recent headline of
the hottest 12 months we've ever lived through. All are a global
concern. Areas of the world are getting hotter and dryer. Flood zones
getting pummeled. Extreme weather becoming the rule, not the exception.
And according to many scientists, global warming is a cause.
HEIDI CULLEN [CLIMATOLOGIST, CLIMATE CHANGE]: What we know really well
about global warming is that it increases the likelihood of more extreme
events.
CHAMPION: Today, hundreds of scientists from 48 countries released
their annual State of the Climate report, which shows the trend toward a
rapidly warming planet has been accelerating. The study examined
headlines, like rising temperatures both on land and in our oceans. And
examined disappearing sea ice. 2011 showed the second smallest area of
ice on record. Also noting glaciers around the world continue to shrink.
Greenland has one of the largest ice bodies in the world. And pictures
now show Greenland's glaciers are melting 30 times faster than they were
a decade ago.
Over the last century, sea levels have risen about ten inches. But by
2050, scientists predict the levels will increase another foot. If that
holds true, parts of cities like Miami and New Orleans will be under
water.
For the first time in its history, this study says 2011 weather
extremes are connected to man-made global warming. This study does not
make predictions for the future, but it begs the question, have we
reached the tipping point? Scientists tell us, not yet.
CULLEN: There may not be a tipping point this year or next year. But
the odds just keep growing. And it's one of these problems where the
sooner you deal with it, the easier it is.
SAWYER: And I want to turn to Sam Champion right now. So Sam, how did they link this to man-made causes for first time?
CHAMPION: In looking through the report, Diane, the one thing they
won't do is say that that particular thunderstorm or that particular
flood event was caused by global warming, but what they do say is that
all of these greenhouse gases are on the rise, and at the largest and
highest levels that they've seen since they've been keeping records.
Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. They also say that they were
not able to detect natural rises in greenhouse gases.
SAWYER: So these are man-made gases they're seeing and not natural gases?
CHAMPION: For the first time, that's what the report says.
SAWYER: Now we've heard it's not yet the tipping point. So still time to do something?
CHAMPION: Well, in my – if you want my opinion, Diane, what I would say
is, now is the time we start limiting man-made greenhouse gases if
we're starting to see that that is exactly what other studies are
showing.
SAWYER: Alright, well this will start a lot of conversation. Big new report today. Thanks, Sam.
