An analysis by Media Matters found Jeff Bezos’ rocket trip to the edge of space for 10 minutes got nearly as much coverage in one day as climate change did for an entire year. NBC, ABC and CBS morning shows spent 212 minutes covering the short trip on Tuesday and spent 267 minutes covering the climate crisis all of 2020. Media Matters has also found white men overwhelmingly dominated the airwaves on climate coverage for at least the fourth year in a row.
This comes as the impact of the climate crisis continues to be felt around the globe. Dozens are dead in China’s Henan province after it was battered with a year’s worth of rain in just three days. Hundreds of thousands had to be evacuated. In Siberia, more than 300,000 residents were told to stay indoors amid record-breaking wildfires. Here in the U.S., the skies are once again thick with haze as far east as New York City, where we are, as the massive Bootleg Fire in Oregon and other fires rage in the West, burning an area larger than Los Angeles. This comes as a new report found the California wildfires could contain dangerous levels of toxic metals, including lead. Meanwhile, the Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, has tied its all-time historic lowest level, is expected to break that record soon amidst the ongoing drought. This all comes as deadly floods swept through western Germany and parts of Belgium last week.
— source democracynow.org | Jul 22, 2021