On Monday, Dr. David Agus injected the media's regular hype about climate change into CBS This Morning's coverage of the outbreak of Enterovirus D68 in the U.S. and the Ebola crisis in Africa. The morning show brought on Dr. Agus to discuss the polio-like virus that has afflicted children across the country. Near the end of the segment, anchor Charlie Rose wondered, "So we have Ebola virus in Africa, and we now have this virus [Enterovirus D68]. What's going on?"
The CBS medical contributor admitted that science didn't have any answers at this point, but that didn't stop him from wildly speculating: [MP3 audio available here [1]; video below]
DR. DAVID AGUS, USC PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE: Well, the world is flat – is that, you know, right now, anybody can get on a plane, and end up anywhere in this country and spread these viruses. And we have to be aware of it. We don't know exactly why there was a dramatic spread this year, but something is happening now. We have multiple viruses. And together with global climate change, things are changing in the virus world, and we have to pay attention.
This isn't the first time CBS has injected the climate change issue into a human tragedy. On the July 16, 2014 edition of CBS Evening News, during a news brief about the 20 injuries from severe turbulence on an international flight, anchor Scott Pelley played up [2] a study that indicated "this kind of turbulence will increase significantly in the future because of climate change." Five months earlier, CBS This Morning promoted a "controversial book [3]" that predicted that "winter sports could be doomed" due to global warming.
Back in November 2013, Pelley hyped how "greenhouse gases, which influence climate change, have hit their highest level in 800,000 years," according to a U.N. climate change report. Correspondent John Blackstone touted [4] the supposed apocalyptic nature of this report, and asked a scientist if it was "too late" to do anything about climate change.
— Matthew Balan is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matthew Balan on Twitter. [5]