Yet again the Thursday network evening newscasts on NBC, ABC, and CBS failed to cover the ClimateGate scandal [1]. However, ABC World News did manage to devote a two minute story to the release of singer Susan Boyle's first album.
On Thursday afternoon, ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper reported the controversy on his blog [2]: "President Obama's science adviser, Dr. John Holdren, faced a barrage of questions yesterday from Republican Members of Congress about a series of hacked emails at the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit that climate change skeptics have seized upon as evidence that the whole concept of climate change is a hoax." Apparently ABC reporters are allowed to discuss the topic online, just not on air.
Interestingly, World News anchor Charles Gibson did a brief report on climate change on Thursday, about how the bad economy has reduced carbon emissions: "The government said today that one offshoot of the recession is cleaner air. Total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. fell 2.2% last year, the decline due in part to record high oil prices, which resulted in less driving." Gibson looked for that economic upside as he reported live outside the White House for the Obama administration's jobs summit.
-Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.