Which is why it's flat-out wrong that Fox News's Chris Wallace--and those who advised him--didn't see fit to put climate change on his topic list for Tuesday's first presidential debate. (Photo: Screenshot of Wallace)
Rewrite That List of Debate Topics, Chris Wallace. And Put the Climate Crisis at No. 1.
Our planet is in serious, irrevocable trouble. There’s no bigger issue.
The temperature in Death Valley hit 130 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Drought-fueled wildfires in the West are still raging, sending smoke all the way to the East Coast after destroying millions of acres and thousands of buildings, and causing more than 25 deaths. And tropical storms, one after another, endlessly roiled the Atlantic.
Our planet is in serious, irrevocable trouble. There's no bigger issue.
Which is why it's flat-out wrong that Fox News's Chris Wallace--and those who advised him--didn't see fit to put climate change on his topic list for Tuesday's first presidential debate.
Instead, as the veteran newsman picked the subjects that will occupy each 15-minute segment of the 90-minute debate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, we got these: the candidates' records, the Supreme Court, covid-19, the economy, "race and violence in our cities," and election integrity.
"The fires are burning. The climate should not be some kind of side issue that only comes up in the context of some other subject, if at all," said Jeff Cohen, a former cable-TV pundit and co-founder of RootsAction Education Fund, which has gathered thousands of signatures on a petition to the moderators of the three presidential and one vice presidential debates. (Cohen also founded the media-watch group FAIR, for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.)
He's not alone in his concern: Dozens of senators, all Democrats, are calling for every one of the presidential and vice presidential debates to include a focus on the climate crisis.
Of course, this abject failure is nothing new in the never-never land of presidential debates. Not one question about climate change was asked by the media moderators in the four general election debates in 2016. How about 2012, when an intensive focus on climate might actually have fended off some of the disasters we're seeing now? Again, zero.
It's not that the hot subject hasn't surfaced in presidential campaigning over the past weeks. Joe Biden has called President Trump a "climate arsonist," and Trump has suggested -- as usual -- that the experts don't know anything.
"It'll start getting cooler," Trump said on a recent California trip. "You just watch."
"I wish science agreed with you," retorted Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary for natural resources.
"Well, I don't think science knows, actually," the president responded.
Forget the politicized pandering of "violence in our cities." And find some time for the subject that should matter much more to young and old alike: the survival of the planet.
Given the growing disaster of climate change, it's especially frustrating to Cohen and others that Wallace intends to highlight "violence in our cities," a constant Fox News talking point. This is 2020's successor to the network's "caravan" obsession before the 2018 midterm elections: the meant-to-scare story line that a rush of evil immigrants was flowing illegally into the United States. Oddly enough, the topic faded quickly after the election.
"When I turn on Fox News, I time how long it is until 'violence in the cities' comes up. It's seldom more than six minutes," Cohen told me.
This reflects Trump's misleading "law and order" narrative in recent weeks, which includes the Justice Department's labeling New York, Seattle and Portland -- all led by Democratic politicians -- as "anarchist jurisdictions."
In fact, the vast majority of protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement between this summer were peaceful, according to a report by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Examining 7,750 protests, the group identified about 220 locations where the protests became violent -- defined as demonstrators clashing with police or counterprotesters or causing property damage, The Washington Post reported. Even in those cases, violence was "largely confined to specific blocks, rather than dispersed throughout the city."
Moderators could even do themselves and their networks some practical good by focusing on a subject that matters deeply to the younger audience they have such trouble reaching. "So many young people see mainstream TV culture as totally out of touch with their interests and concerns, and climate is a prime example," Cohen said. "They see TV news asleep at the wheel."
In the fall of 2016, Cohen was teaching journalism at Ithaca College when not a single debate question addressed global warming. "My students were appalled," he recalled.
So how about a swap, Chris Wallace?
Yes, do bring up injustice. But forget the politicized pandering of "violence in our cities." And find some time for the subject that should matter much more to young and old alike: the survival of the planet.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
The temperature in Death Valley hit 130 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Drought-fueled wildfires in the West are still raging, sending smoke all the way to the East Coast after destroying millions of acres and thousands of buildings, and causing more than 25 deaths. And tropical storms, one after another, endlessly roiled the Atlantic.
Our planet is in serious, irrevocable trouble. There's no bigger issue.
Which is why it's flat-out wrong that Fox News's Chris Wallace--and those who advised him--didn't see fit to put climate change on his topic list for Tuesday's first presidential debate.
Instead, as the veteran newsman picked the subjects that will occupy each 15-minute segment of the 90-minute debate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, we got these: the candidates' records, the Supreme Court, covid-19, the economy, "race and violence in our cities," and election integrity.
"The fires are burning. The climate should not be some kind of side issue that only comes up in the context of some other subject, if at all," said Jeff Cohen, a former cable-TV pundit and co-founder of RootsAction Education Fund, which has gathered thousands of signatures on a petition to the moderators of the three presidential and one vice presidential debates. (Cohen also founded the media-watch group FAIR, for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.)
He's not alone in his concern: Dozens of senators, all Democrats, are calling for every one of the presidential and vice presidential debates to include a focus on the climate crisis.
Of course, this abject failure is nothing new in the never-never land of presidential debates. Not one question about climate change was asked by the media moderators in the four general election debates in 2016. How about 2012, when an intensive focus on climate might actually have fended off some of the disasters we're seeing now? Again, zero.
It's not that the hot subject hasn't surfaced in presidential campaigning over the past weeks. Joe Biden has called President Trump a "climate arsonist," and Trump has suggested -- as usual -- that the experts don't know anything.
"It'll start getting cooler," Trump said on a recent California trip. "You just watch."
"I wish science agreed with you," retorted Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary for natural resources.
"Well, I don't think science knows, actually," the president responded.
Forget the politicized pandering of "violence in our cities." And find some time for the subject that should matter much more to young and old alike: the survival of the planet.
Given the growing disaster of climate change, it's especially frustrating to Cohen and others that Wallace intends to highlight "violence in our cities," a constant Fox News talking point. This is 2020's successor to the network's "caravan" obsession before the 2018 midterm elections: the meant-to-scare story line that a rush of evil immigrants was flowing illegally into the United States. Oddly enough, the topic faded quickly after the election.
"When I turn on Fox News, I time how long it is until 'violence in the cities' comes up. It's seldom more than six minutes," Cohen told me.
This reflects Trump's misleading "law and order" narrative in recent weeks, which includes the Justice Department's labeling New York, Seattle and Portland -- all led by Democratic politicians -- as "anarchist jurisdictions."
In fact, the vast majority of protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement between this summer were peaceful, according to a report by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Examining 7,750 protests, the group identified about 220 locations where the protests became violent -- defined as demonstrators clashing with police or counterprotesters or causing property damage, The Washington Post reported. Even in those cases, violence was "largely confined to specific blocks, rather than dispersed throughout the city."
Moderators could even do themselves and their networks some practical good by focusing on a subject that matters deeply to the younger audience they have such trouble reaching. "So many young people see mainstream TV culture as totally out of touch with their interests and concerns, and climate is a prime example," Cohen said. "They see TV news asleep at the wheel."
In the fall of 2016, Cohen was teaching journalism at Ithaca College when not a single debate question addressed global warming. "My students were appalled," he recalled.
So how about a swap, Chris Wallace?
Yes, do bring up injustice. But forget the politicized pandering of "violence in our cities." And find some time for the subject that should matter much more to young and old alike: the survival of the planet.
The temperature in Death Valley hit 130 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Drought-fueled wildfires in the West are still raging, sending smoke all the way to the East Coast after destroying millions of acres and thousands of buildings, and causing more than 25 deaths. And tropical storms, one after another, endlessly roiled the Atlantic.
Our planet is in serious, irrevocable trouble. There's no bigger issue.
Which is why it's flat-out wrong that Fox News's Chris Wallace--and those who advised him--didn't see fit to put climate change on his topic list for Tuesday's first presidential debate.
Instead, as the veteran newsman picked the subjects that will occupy each 15-minute segment of the 90-minute debate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, we got these: the candidates' records, the Supreme Court, covid-19, the economy, "race and violence in our cities," and election integrity.
"The fires are burning. The climate should not be some kind of side issue that only comes up in the context of some other subject, if at all," said Jeff Cohen, a former cable-TV pundit and co-founder of RootsAction Education Fund, which has gathered thousands of signatures on a petition to the moderators of the three presidential and one vice presidential debates. (Cohen also founded the media-watch group FAIR, for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.)
He's not alone in his concern: Dozens of senators, all Democrats, are calling for every one of the presidential and vice presidential debates to include a focus on the climate crisis.
Of course, this abject failure is nothing new in the never-never land of presidential debates. Not one question about climate change was asked by the media moderators in the four general election debates in 2016. How about 2012, when an intensive focus on climate might actually have fended off some of the disasters we're seeing now? Again, zero.
It's not that the hot subject hasn't surfaced in presidential campaigning over the past weeks. Joe Biden has called President Trump a "climate arsonist," and Trump has suggested -- as usual -- that the experts don't know anything.
"It'll start getting cooler," Trump said on a recent California trip. "You just watch."
"I wish science agreed with you," retorted Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary for natural resources.
"Well, I don't think science knows, actually," the president responded.
Forget the politicized pandering of "violence in our cities." And find some time for the subject that should matter much more to young and old alike: the survival of the planet.
Given the growing disaster of climate change, it's especially frustrating to Cohen and others that Wallace intends to highlight "violence in our cities," a constant Fox News talking point. This is 2020's successor to the network's "caravan" obsession before the 2018 midterm elections: the meant-to-scare story line that a rush of evil immigrants was flowing illegally into the United States. Oddly enough, the topic faded quickly after the election.
"When I turn on Fox News, I time how long it is until 'violence in the cities' comes up. It's seldom more than six minutes," Cohen told me.
This reflects Trump's misleading "law and order" narrative in recent weeks, which includes the Justice Department's labeling New York, Seattle and Portland -- all led by Democratic politicians -- as "anarchist jurisdictions."
In fact, the vast majority of protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement between this summer were peaceful, according to a report by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Examining 7,750 protests, the group identified about 220 locations where the protests became violent -- defined as demonstrators clashing with police or counterprotesters or causing property damage, The Washington Post reported. Even in those cases, violence was "largely confined to specific blocks, rather than dispersed throughout the city."
Moderators could even do themselves and their networks some practical good by focusing on a subject that matters deeply to the younger audience they have such trouble reaching. "So many young people see mainstream TV culture as totally out of touch with their interests and concerns, and climate is a prime example," Cohen said. "They see TV news asleep at the wheel."
In the fall of 2016, Cohen was teaching journalism at Ithaca College when not a single debate question addressed global warming. "My students were appalled," he recalled.
So how about a swap, Chris Wallace?
Yes, do bring up injustice. But forget the politicized pandering of "violence in our cities." And find some time for the subject that should matter much more to young and old alike: the survival of the planet.