Global Warming's name was officially changed to Global Climate Change in order to more accurately describe what is happening to our planet. The name change was announced by White House science advisor, John P. Holdren. Where he gave a speech in Oslo in which he said the term global warming was a “dangerous misnomer” because it suggested that effects of greenhouse gases would be uniform around the world and “quite possibly benign.” Instead he said a better term would be “global climate disruption.”(1)
Stephen Colbert
I will breakdown two video clips from Stephen Colbert and Glenn Beck and show which one uses truth in presenting Global Climate Disruption and which one uses truthiness. I will identify which media theories are being used in each of the clips presented.
Glenn Beck
The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Ignoring Global Warming
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Colbert quoted from USA Today, "Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming, jumped 45% between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tons last year, the European Commission reports. The emission cuts in some industrialized countries that are relying more on energy efficiency and renewable power are not enough to offset the escalating demand for energy, especially in developing countries, according to the new report by the EC's Joint Research Centre and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The report, based on the latest data, shows large national differences. The 27 member nations of the European Union (EU-27) cut CO2 emissions 7% during the 1990-2010 period" (2).
Texas was the hottest state on record this summer, however in the article that Colbert presented there was no actual mention of global climate disruption as the cause of the hot Texas summer. This omission of information is a form of gatekeeping. Colbert does use stories that fit well into his news cast theme in order to transition into a joke.
Colbert quotes from the Advertising Age's website that, "based on surveys of more than 2,000 respondents between June 9 and July 5, found only 33% said the environment is "very serious and should be a priority for everyone" this year, down from 39% last year and 46% in 2007. At the same time, 41% of people agreed with the statement "first comes economic security, then we can worry about environmental problems," up 13 points from 2007." (3). This is a factual statement providing facts to the viewer.
Glenn Beck clearly omits information when discussing the negative affects of biofuel. He doesn't state who is Britain's Chief Environmental Scientist is, nor does he give any type of source to where the quote came from, clearly evidence of gatekeeping. Beck creates an agenda setting that is anti-global warming. He doesn't state that he is for it or against it, but he downplays every effort that is made to combat Global Warming, such as biofuels, solar panels, and walking vs driving.
Beck does state an actual article that was published in The Washington Post, where he quoted, "You have to close all the doors and windows" (4). Beck uses framing theory when talking about the acidic air in China due to the production on solar panels. He doesn't mention why the company is dumping where they are or what is being dumped. The article continues to discuss the problems involved and what can be done to fix it, quoting,"it typically takes companies two years to get a polysilicon factory up and running properly, many Chinese companies are trying to do it in half that time or less...theoretically, companies should collect it all, process it to get rid of the poisonous stuff, then release it or recycle" (4).
Beck continues to talk about how walking is as bad as driving for global warming. He states that his information is according to "environmentalists now" and he doesn't give any source from where he got his information. I found the article Beck used on The New York Times, where it states, "If you walk 1.5 miles...and replace those calories by drinking about a cup of milk, the greenhouse emissions connected with that milk (like methane from the dairy farm and carbon dioxide from the delivery truck) are just about equal to the emissions from a typical car making the same trip. And if there were two of you making the trip, then the car would definitely be the more planet-friendly way to go." (5). This is clearly a matter of opinion and not necessarily news, due to all of the confounding factors involved.
Conclusion
Fox News pundits like Glenn Beck clearly report more truthiness than truth, by means of Gatekeeping, Agenda Settings, and Framing. Comedy Central's "fake" news reporters like Stephen Colbert report more truth than truthiness, through satirical news reporting. Glenn Beck clearly has an anti-Global Climate Disruption agenda and bias, whereas Stephen Colbert states facts and evidence that Global Climate Disruption is a valid concern.
