Think Tank Creates Ad Exposing NBC’s Censorship of Climate Debate

NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd listens during a taping of "Meet the Press" at the NBC studios on Sept. 14, 2008, in Washington. Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press

A free-market think tank in Washington started an ad campaign on Jan. 22 that aims to expose the censorship of scientific debate on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

NBC refused to run a paid 30-second ad by the Competitive Enterprise Insititute (CEI), which criticizes “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd for openly banning scientific debate on the topic of global warming.

Todd told his audience in an hourlong special program that aired on Dec. 30, 2018, that when it comes to climate change “the science is settled even if political opinion is not.”

“We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it. The Earth is getting hotter, and human activity is a major cause. Period. We’re not going to give time to climate deniers,” Todd said.

The CEI ad points out that there is real debate among climate-change scientists about the extent of global warming and its effects.

“There has been some warming since the end of the Little Ice Age in the 19th century, but it is a big jump from there to claim global warming is a crisis demanding drastic action,” the print ad, which will appear in newspapers, states.

“Millions of Americans agree that global warming is not a crisis that requires turning the economy and our lives upside down–but you‘d never know that from watching Chuck Todd and ’Meet the Press.'”

https://youtu.be/5qMNsIPtNCk

Virtually every major climate model put forth in the past decade has predicted a greater rise in temperatures than what was actually recorded, according to multiple scientific reviews.

Instead of hearing from scientists, Todd interviewed politicians who align with climate-change alarmists. Outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown told Todd’s audience that the rise in global temperatures is a threat to Americans, similar to that at the outset of World War II. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg said climate concerns should take precedence over the economy.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has argued for years that aligning policymaking with an extreme view of climate change is dangerous.

Far-left politicians, including Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), are in full alignment with an extreme view of climate change pushed by alarmists. They are pushing for a package of drastic reforms, titled the “Green New Deal,” which would see the U.S. economy transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels in 12 years.

But the “Green New Deal” would come with staggering economic costs, according to a study by the conservative Heritage Foundation. If implemented, it would raise electricity costs by 36 percent for families and 60 percent for businesses, cut the annual income for an average family of four by $2,400, and result in a loss of 1 million jobs.

“A renewable electricity standard is not a path to the new economy, but an example of the stale old thinking that will hobble the already damaged economy with job-killing cost increases,” the study concluded.

President Donald Trump doesn’t align with climate-change alarmists. He withdrew from the Paris climate accord and has lifted regulations on the energy industry. He frequently takes jabs at climate-change alarmists in Twitter messages.

“Be careful and try staying in your house. Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record-setting cold. Amazing how big this system is. Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Jan. 20.