By now, it seems apparent that, from the point of view of the viewer hoping for useful information, it doesn’t matter much whether Brain Williams returns to NBC Nightly News. The mixture of disaster and fluff seems to be fixed. The don’t-comment rule on controversial matters still is in place, especially on climate change, regardless of who’s in the anchor chair. On Monday, with Kate Snow, and on Tuesday, with Lester Holt, the first ten minutes were devoted to flooding and tornadoes without a hint that extreme climate events raise a systemic issue, despite comments by interviewees about "historic" or "record" events.
Update 5/29/15
On Thursday, May 28, a reporter said, while discussing the change from drought to floods in Texas, "scientists say climate change is exacerbating the wild swings." There followed a clip of a scientist saying more or less the same thing. This is progress, but those comments took eleven seconds. It hardly justified the caption on Media Matters: "A News Program Explains How Climate Change Affected Texas ‘Weather Whiplash’," but I guess we’re all getting desperate for some mention of the problem in news reports.
Update 5/29/15
On Thursday, May 28, a reporter said, while discussing the change from drought to floods in Texas, "scientists say climate change is exacerbating the wild swings." There followed a clip of a scientist saying more or less the same thing. This is progress, but those comments took eleven seconds. It hardly justified the caption on Media Matters: "A News Program Explains How Climate Change Affected Texas ‘Weather Whiplash’," but I guess we’re all getting desperate for some mention of the problem in news reports.
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