To: Mark Hoffman, CNBC Chief Executive Officer and President
CNBC: Don’t become the next Fox News – stop denying climate change
Don't allow your financial coverage to be warped by ultraconservative conspiracy theories. Tell your on-air personalities to take off their tinfoil hats, stop denying climate science, and start reporting the facts on the economic risks of fossil-fueled climate change. Your viewers will thank you!
Why is this important?
When President Obama gave his landmark speech in June calling on America to address the causes and impacts of climate change, business station CNBC was the only cable news network that refused to run even one second of the speech. Sadly, this is just the latest example of the network’s egregious climate reporting. A recent Media Matters report found that over half of CNBC’s climate science coverage since 2013 has cast doubt on the scientific consensus that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is causing climate change.
When viewers called CNBC out over Twitter for presenting false information, Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen responded with offensive statements, calling the tweets a “global warming jihad launched against me by the Eco Taliban”. What’s more, he responded on air, saying:
“You haven’t read my Twitter feed, I’ll tell you that much […] there’s a lot of things happening the enviro-socialists are–man, it is a cult. It is a bona fide cult."
Calling groups that acknowledge climate change part of a cult isn't just absurd, it’s really bad business advice. This is the kind of climate coverage we expect from Fox News, not a subsidiary of NBC.
As a major business network under the banner of NBC Universal, CNBC has a responsibility to report on how climate change will impact its viewers, particularly from a financial perspective, not give voice to disproven conspiracy theories. When the recession hit, CNBC came under fire for making excuses for Wall Street. Now they’re denying climate change. We can’t afford to have CNBC go down the same path as Fox News, compromising their integrity to appeal to right wing viewers. Right now, because CNBC’s ratings are declining, CNBC management will be looking to make changes to get their ratings and advertisers back. We know they are listening. If we make a strong push for responsible journalism and accurate climate reporting, our efforts could help turn things around at CNBC. Please add your voice.
When viewers called CNBC out over Twitter for presenting false information, Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen responded with offensive statements, calling the tweets a “global warming jihad launched against me by the Eco Taliban”. What’s more, he responded on air, saying:
“You haven’t read my Twitter feed, I’ll tell you that much […] there’s a lot of things happening the enviro-socialists are–man, it is a cult. It is a bona fide cult."
Calling groups that acknowledge climate change part of a cult isn't just absurd, it’s really bad business advice. This is the kind of climate coverage we expect from Fox News, not a subsidiary of NBC.
As a major business network under the banner of NBC Universal, CNBC has a responsibility to report on how climate change will impact its viewers, particularly from a financial perspective, not give voice to disproven conspiracy theories. When the recession hit, CNBC came under fire for making excuses for Wall Street. Now they’re denying climate change. We can’t afford to have CNBC go down the same path as Fox News, compromising their integrity to appeal to right wing viewers. Right now, because CNBC’s ratings are declining, CNBC management will be looking to make changes to get their ratings and advertisers back. We know they are listening. If we make a strong push for responsible journalism and accurate climate reporting, our efforts could help turn things around at CNBC. Please add your voice.