Planet propaganda

CNN show misses a chance at environmental investigation | Megan Basham

CNN's Anderson Cooper revealed the alarmist nature of his ecological special, Planet in Peril, before the much-hailed program even aired. Momentarily pre-empted by coverage of Southern California's wildfires, Cooper used the interruption to claim that global warming is partially to blame for the disaster. "Fire, drought, deforestation," he intoned. "It's all connected."

Such inappropriate commentary persisted throughout the next four hours, leaving no question that the documentary's purpose was not to investigate key environmental issues but to engage in environmental tub-thumping.

Cooper neatly dispensed with the question of whether climate change is occurring and whether it is human-induced by stating: "Scientists say that [global warming] is happening because of what we're putting into the air." At no point does he mention that there are many highly credentialed scientists who say otherwise. Fellow host Dr. Sanjay Gupta's treatment of the subject of overpopulation is equally biased. "There simply aren't enough natural resources on this planet to support everyone," he reports as fact.