By Paul Homewood
Democracy only matters to CCN when the vote goes their way!
“Crushing.” “Decisive.” “Overwhelming.” Those are some of the adjectives news stories have used to describe Donald Trump’s election triumph. Trump himself said in his victory speech that the American people had given him “an unprecedented and powerful mandate” to enact his agenda, a claim repeated by his political allies. As regards climate change, that agenda includes “drill, baby, drill,” withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and other policies that would further overheat an already dangerously overheated planet.
Credulous early news coverage spread the narrative that Trump won a massive victory, but the ultimate vote count tells a different story. With some states still completing their final tally, Trump is projected to win less than half of the popular vote — 49.87%, at last count. Which means that more Americans voted against Trump than voted for him.
Trump did, however, score a resounding 312 to 226 victory in the Electoral College, and he’ll have narrow Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. In terms of governing power, there’s no question that he won big.
But governing power is not the same as a popular mandate, and it’s important for journalists not to conflate the two. Of course Trump and his allies want to claim a popular mandate: If everyone believes that, it’s easier to implement his agenda. But that’s not what the final vote count reveals.
Meanwhile, public opinion surveys show that 74% of Americans (and 89% percent of people around the world) want government action against climate change. Separate surveys show that roughly 70% of the public want to know more about climate change. (US-based journalists can find the exact percentage for your area here.)
As journalists, our job is to prioritize what our audience wants to know. Trump’s return to the White House complicates that task, as newsrooms are bound to be stretched by the ensuing chaos and Trump’s threats to “go after” media he doesn’t like. Climate news may get folded into existing stories more. If so, it will be more important than ever that all journalists, not just dedicated climate reporters, make the climate connection to the news of the day, whether it’s extreme weather or mass deportations, affordable insurance or public health.
As long as humans burn more oil, gas, and coal, as Trump wants to do, extreme weather will keep hitting harder and more often. The public already wonders what’s going on, what role climate change might be playing, and what they can do to protect themselves. That’s the story we journalists have to keep telling — one for which, sadly, we’ll have plenty of news pegs over the next four years.
https://coveringclimatenow.org/from-us-story/does-trump-really-have-a-mandate/
I don’t remember them questioning Joe Biden’s mandate for his trillion dollar Green New Deal, fraudulently labelled the Inflation Reduction Act, which only passed the Senate thanks to Kamala’s casting vote!
But CCN are not interested in democracy, only pushing their climate agenda. They are even prepared to lie:
CCN was set up to coordinate climate coverage, and now has hundreds of news outlets faithfully propagating their lies:
It was originally set up in 2019 by four left wing news outlets, including the Guardian. And, surprise surprise, it is funded the usual assortment of left wing foundations:
It is little wonder that the credibility of the media is at rock bottom.