Al Gore may have rubbed elbows with some of the world’s most prominent leaders, but he looked awkward in staged photos as cover boy in the July 14 issue of Entertainment Weekly. He appeared denim jacketed in the hot desert and looked hard pressed to interact with stuffed monkeys let alone save a jungle of real ones. That didn’t matter to EW which still declared his efforts a success and the global warming debate “over.”
The issue praised Gore’s newfound hipster status and mentioned the former vice president on eight of the 76 pages. The magazine chronicled his career, but his lack of science background was carefully omitted. As vice president, he met the Dalai Lama, but now as a “hip and trendy” pop-icon he finally got to shake hands with actress Denise Richards. According to EW, his
The article praised Gore for connecting to crowds “charismatically” and noted he “even found his sense of humor.” The article also quoted John Lesher, head of Paramount Vantage/Paramount Classics, in a similarly positive way. “He’s the hardest–working man in show business,” Lesher said.
While the article commended Gore for his efforts, it criticized the “conservative media” for not engaging in the global warming debate. The article claimed that Fox News has been “relatively silent” regarding the film. EW translated that to mean, in terms of global warming, that the “debate is over.” The Business & Media Institute has [1]previously documented instances of the media declaring the climate debate over. However, Fox News has indeed addressed “An Inconvenient Truth.”
On May 19, 2006, David Asman, host of “Forbes on Fox,” appeared on “The Big Story with John Gibson” to criticize Gore’s film. “[H]e’s taken the scientists who go right to the top, the most alarmist scientists … who say that the worse scenario is this – and Al Gore is putting up the worst possible scenario.” Asman added that that was “probably the least likely scenario.” The debate on Fox far from over and neither was Fox News shying away from its position.
The EW article argued that circumstances were adding to Gore’s popularity. “With gas prices [going up] and global warming percolating in the zeitgeist – it felt like a perfect storm,” claimed “Pulp Fiction” producer Lawrence Bender. However, the article ignored the huge media push for Gore’s movie, mentioning only an appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” There have been dozens more. Svetkey didn’t come to the obvious conclusion – that perhaps “global warming is percolating in the zeitgeist” because