Viewers who turn into their favorite local TV meteorologist are probably interested in finding out about severe weather or what the weather will be today or tonight or in the coming days … but climate change? Viewpoints on the subject range from "man is doing nothing to affect the climate" to "man is doing a little" … to "it’s all caused by humans."
What was once just a topic for mainstream national media outlets has found its way to local television markets. But as one former chief meteorologist in Iowa discovered, not everyone in America's heartland appreciated his climate change coverage.
Dr. Cal Beisner is president of Cornwall Alliance. "An organization called Climate Matters is pouring money into local weather stations to get them to have their local forecasters ring the climate-alarm bell, so to speak," he tells AFN.
That group claims to enable "data-driven climate reporting," and to provide "science-based" materials explaining how climate change impacts local communities as well as "solutions to limit warming." Three years ago, it launched a reporting resource designed to help journalists "present climate science and visualize climate connections to local weather events as they happen."
Retired broadcast meteorologist Scott Chesner spent 42 years in the business with stints at AccuWeather, the Dallas-Ft. Worth TV market, and in East Texas.
"I'm glad that I wasn't asked to that during my career. I [probably] would have been fired pretty quickly," he shares. "It's dishonest in that it's presenting theory as being fact."
Chesner contends it is all a ploy to get more viewers. He explains that the recent total solar eclipse brought a drop in temperatures – a natural cause of "climate change."
