This is a new one, in my experience. I’ve witnessed many a Warmist complain about the news media not providing enough (doomsaying) coverage of anthropogenic climate change. Further, they’ve taken to whining when news allows skeptics to debate and reply. I don’t think I’ve seen a Warmist make this case, though
Climate change reporting should be obligatory
By any objective standards, the global climate and biodiversity crisis should be front page news almost every day. Rationally, you would expect updates on the battle to maintain a habitable biosphere to also be leading most TV and radio news bulletins. We do not, it seems, live in a world governed by reason
Let’s note one thing: people often think of the word “obligatory” as something one should really do. Many bloggers will write headlines like “Obligatory Post On Something”. But, looking at the dictionary, we get “required by a legal, moral, or other rule; compulsory.” So, some of that is by actual government.
Climate breakdown has been labelled the “problem from hellâ€. Sphinx-like, it appears both remote and abstract, yet simultaneously overwhelming and complex. If ever a crisis seemed designed to stymie humanity’s ability or will to confront it, this is it.
While Ireland’s collective response to the climate crisis has been woeful, the 2017 report by the Citizens Assembly revealed a previously untapped public appetite for radical action. This in turn gave the political impetus for the creation of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action (JCCA).
People get most of their information via the media, and the prominence it gives to a story shapes how seriously the public regard it. Since the climate crisis is covered only fitfully, and often simply framed as a dispute between opposing factions, it’s hardly a surprise that so many people have no idea just how dire the situation already is.
The JCCA report recommends: ‘the imposition of climate change content quotas on all licensed broadcasters’ as is now the case for news and current affairs. This is a bold, potentially transformative proposal, as it would require broadcasters to develop expertise and real depth in this crucial field.
And boom, there it is: governmental laws requiring certain coverage of Hotcoldwetdry, and you know that the regulations would require it be covered only towards the Warmist side, while disallowing skeptical coverage. And they could get away with it in much of the world, where they do not have anything like the 1st Amendment, which protects freedom of the press. The Cult of Climastrology is most certainly Authoritarian.
