The mainstream media have been hiding the existence of scientists, economists, and policy experts who dissent from the global warming scare ever since Al Gore and then Barack Obama made alarmism a major plank of the Progressive’s agenda. The partisan bias of CBS in particular has been documented many times (see here, here, here, and here). For example, CBS went four years, from 2010 to 2014, without quoting a single global warming realist.

The brief appearance of Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute and a critic of global warming alarmism, on the CBS Evening News was a rare and welcome bit of truth-telling. The interview aired on Earth Day, amid heavy coverage of the left-wing anti-Trump “March for Science,” making the breakthrough especially poignant.

The brief (three minutes) feature is posted on Youtube and can be viewed here (and at the bottom of this post). The Heartland Institute recorded the entire hour-long interview conducted by CBS reporter Dean Reynolds in Heartland’s Arlington Heights headquarters two weeks earlier; that video also can be viewed here (and at the bottom of this post).

While we thank CBS News for including us in its Earth Day coverage, the clips from the interview they used and their manner of presenting them reveal the network’s continued bias against sound science and economics in the climate change debate. We had hoped for better. Here are some things we think were especially unfair:

The opening sentence of the feature has a host saying “they call themselves ‘climate realists,’” as though the term were new, made up, or not in general use. It might be new to CBS reporters, but we and other groups and individuals have been using it for many years (see here, here, here, and here) to distinguish our views from “alarmists” who make no secret that they are using rhetoric and even “myths” to frighten the public into adopting their political agenda.

Reporter Dean Reynolds says The Heartland Institute works out of “this office park” in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The image shown is of our building... we own and fill the entire 13,000 s.f. building with more than 30 staff plus interns, a public meeting space, and research library. We’re proud of our new headquarters.

Reynolds contrasts Joseph Bast’s views on climate change with “scientists” and is careful to point out that “Bast is not a scientist.” True, and Bast acknowledged that prior to the interview, during the interview, and many times in past interviews. But Bast has co-edited four volumes in the Climate Change Reconsidered series summarizing and citing thousands of peer-reviewed studies on climate change, a series so highly regarded it has been cited more than 100 times in peer-reviewed articles and was translated into Chinese and published by the Chinese Academy of Science. He has been publisher of Environment & Climate News for twenty years. He understands the issue and is qualified to write and speak on it.

Reynolds, who admitted during the interview that “I don’t know the science,” claims Bast’s views are “dismissed ... as propaganda for fossil fuels” by scientific and government entities. In fact, thousands of scientists, possibly most scientists in the world, agree with Bast (see here, here, here, and here). Moreover, most independent conservative and libertarian think tanks in the world have endorsed climate realism. Nearly 100 of them have cosponsored one or more of The Heartland Institute’s conferences on climate change, including Americans for Tax Reform, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cornwall Alliance, Heritage Foundation, International Climate Science Coalition, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, Pacific Research Institute, and Science and Environmental Policy Project.

At the end of the Evening News piece, Joseph Bast is quoted saying “we’re winning big time ... in ten years, nobody is going to be talking about global warming.” He stands by that prediction. We urge you to watch the whole interview where Bast explains how the latest scientific research points to a smaller human impact on climate than previously thought, and why public opinion polls show most voters reject global warming alarmism.

You can find lots of evidence in support of global warming realism on our two websites, here and here.

A very short book titled Why Scientists Disagree about Global Warming, free online, demolishes the claims of a “scientific consensus” and sets forth a good overview of climate science:

You can sign up for free digital subscriptions to our monthly publication, Environment & Climate News, or our weekly e-newsletter, Climate Change Weekly, by clicking here.

And of course, we hope you’ll consider becoming a Heartland Institute supporter by making even a small contribution, by clicking here.

CBS Evening News, April 22, 2017:

Dean Reynolds of CBS interviews Joseph Bast, April 3, 3017: