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Donald Trump’s attack on the planet – ignored by mainstream media

The media is failing to challenge Trump’s attack on the planet, Grist By Emily Atkin on May 12, 2017 It may seem like a distant memory now, given President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, but the top political news at the beginning of this week was the administration’s unexpected dismissal of nine government scientists from the 18-member Environmental Protection Agency board that oversees the department’s scientific research. The EPA reportedly plans to replace some of those board members with representatives from the polluting industries the agency is supposed to regulate.

This was just the latest brazen assault on climate policy by the Trump administration. By sheer number of actions, Trump has done more on the environment than in any other area since becoming president. He’s signed at least eight anti-environmental executive actions, and ordered delays and reviewsof anti-pollution rules. He’s appointed climate change deniers to cabinet positions, and scrubbed scientifically accurate information about climate change from EPA websites. And Trump is considering whether to leave the Paris climate agreement, which is casting a dark shadow over talks in Bonn, Germany, where representatives from 200 countries are discussing the terms of the deal.

Which makes it all the more bewildering that reporters with access to the president have failed to press him on the subject. Two more examples of this media failure surfaced on Thursday, when The Economist and Time each published separate, wide-ranging interviews with Trump — and neither featured a single question about the administration’s environmental agenda.

Time and The Economist’s omissions might seem reasonable, given the looming threat of a constitutional crisis. But both interviews were conducted before Trump fired Comey; while The Economist sat down with Trump on May 4, Time did so on Monday night, when the fired EPA scientists was major news. These omissions might also seem reasonable by journalistic standards; reporters get a limited amount of time with the president, and can’t ask about everything. But being a good journalist means asking questions that haven’t been asked before, and most journalists have failed to ask Trump about his science and environmental policy since he took office in January.

Here is a rough, and likely incomplete, list of sit-down interviews with Trump since he took office. The numbers indicate how many questions were asked about his environmental agenda: 

The questions that were asked were woefully non-substantive. In Fox News’ Jan. 26 interview, Sean Hannity asked, “How important a goal is it that you want this country to move towards energy independence?” Trump responded: “Very important. It’s very important.” Then he insisted, “I’m an environmentalist, OK?”……..

Climate change was the final question in the Washington Post’s lengthy interview, and Trump was asked not about policy but whether he accepts climate science. “Is there human-caused climate change?” Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt asked. Trump said he believes in “weather.” Editorial writer Stephen Stromberg followed up by asking if Trump should consider the risk; Trump responded that nuclear weapons were a bigger risk. End of interview…….

In the coming weeks, Trump will decide whether to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. He’ll begin the process of opening up oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. And his EPA will start the process of repealing and replacing clean water regulations. If there were ever a time for journalists to force Trump to defend his assault on the environment, it’s now. http://grist.org/article/the-media-is-failing-to-challenge-trumps-attack-on-the-planet/

May 15, 2017 - Posted by | media, USA

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