The theory that the earth is catastrophically heating up because of industrial pollution has become one of the leading environmental topics on network television news. Global warming is a highly controversial issue, with most climate scientists unconvinced that human actions are warming the planet, or that such warming would even be harmful. Such views, however, do not make it into newscasts. There were a total of 48 stories.
Story Heats Up.
The 48 stories were not evenly distributed throughout the years. The heavy coverage so far in 1997 has been a result of White House public relations activities, such as the inviting of the nation's local television weathermen for a presidential briefing. In 1993 and 1994, when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, but didn't push for action on global warming, the networks were largely silent. No Room for Scientific Debate. Only seven stories included a mention that many scientists are skeptical of global warming.