On the networks, look who's talking about climate change

Have I ever mentioned that I  never watch the Sunday morning talk shows?  Oh, I do get a glimpse of one or the other when I happen to pass by a TV set  while  these elitest panels are fussing over the latest crises.  Although Henry Luce is not one of my inspired journalistic heros, I do agree with his view that objectivity is a  "false god."

Talk about objectivity,  a study by  Media Matters reported a remarkable imbalance in discussions of climate change on the network Sunday shows in which Democrats were shut out of any comments.

"In  2012," Media Matters reports, "the Sunday shows did not  quote a single Democratic politician on climate change.  Most of the politicians quoted were Republican presidential candidates, including Rick Santorum, who went unchallenged when he called global warming 'junk science' on ABC's This Week.    More than half of the climate mentions on the Sunday shows were Republicans criticizing those who support efforts to address  climate change."

Among the pundits who have dismissed climate change is George Will.  Of course, he was also one of the gifted thinkers who predicted a landslide victory for Mitt Romney.  And for Republicans, the dark clouds have been gathering ever since Election Day.

NOTE:  My column on the upheaval at the Plain Dealer and newspaper passivity toward key issues has been posted on Plunderbund. 

Beck rants against evils of World Cup

IT MUST HAVE BEEN a slow news week for Glenn Beck, the Fox court jester. He has now ranted against the World Cup. Beck, who has made Professor Backward seem lucid in contrast, is telling his eager fans that soccer is evil, that it has been "jammed down the throats" of unsuspecting Americans by international conspirators who don't have our honorable best interests at heart. Here's his spin:"

"It doesn't matter how you sell it to us. It doesn't matter how many celebrities you get. It doesn't matter how many bars open early (He could probably name some.) . It doesn't matter how many beer commercials they run. We don't want the World Cup. We don't like the World Cup. We don't like soccer. We want nothing to do with it..."

There are two problems with Beck's babble. (1)As Media Matters points out, 120 million Americans "did enjoy" the World Cup on TV in 2006. (2)His company has its own soccer outlet: Fox Soccer Channel. I'll leave it at that and simply give him a Grumpy Abe Linguistic Lunacy (GALL) Award.