Media Ignores Global Warming in Presidential Campaign

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), an environmental advocacy group, reviewed 2,275 questions posed to presidential candidates by Tim Russert of NBC, George Stephanopoulos of ABC, Mike Wallace of Fox, Wolf Blitzer of CNN and Bob Schieffer of CBS. Of the questions,  LCV reports only three mentioned “global warming” and 24 were “related to the issue.” Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace mentioned “global warming” twice, and Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer mentioned it once.

Dave Dempsey, Communications Director of the state’s LCV affiliate, Conservation Minnesota, conveyed disappointment but not surprise in an interview with Minnesota Monitor: …“The failure of Beltway pundits to grasp the monumental significance of climate and energy to America’s future is appalling, but not surprising,” Dempsey said. “So far the national coverage has almost completely devalued clean water, habitat, and other outdoors concerns. At least in Minnesota the media generally take these issues seriously.”

In order to draw the media’s attention to global warming as a campaign issue, the LCV has released a new video and companion site called What Are They Waiting For?