Jeff Bezos Got as Much Morning Show Coverage in a Day as Climate Change Got All Last Year

On Tuesday, Jeff Bezos visited the sting of house. Upon returning, he stated a bunch of inane issues, from eager to ship all polluting trade off-planet to thanking “every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this.”

It was a cringey and painful reminder that what we witnessed was not some grand human endeavor however a joyride that was mainly the equal of “area man takes Tesla out for a spin” at a billionaire scale. And but, the TV media lapped it up and dutifully vomited it again out, even because the world actually burned.

An analysis by Media Matters discovered that the NBC, ABC, and CBS morning exhibits devoted 212 minutes to Bezos’ little jaunt. In comparability, those self same exhibits spent 267 minutes overlaying local weather all of final 12 months.

More than 8.5 million viewers mixed tune into these exhibits. Morning exhibits are usually extra human interest-oriented and a bit lighter by way of their protection typically.

Bezos did convey alongside Wally Funk, a lady who was banned from being an astronaut by NASA and grew to become the oldest particular person to go to house, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old scholar, son of a rich investor, and youngest particular person to go to house. Whether a cynical ploy to deflect criticism or a heartfelt urge to indicate house is for everybody, having them onboard actually gave information shops uplifting tales in the event that they needed to inform them.

But, one may maybe argue if one have been so inclined, the continued destiny of humanity and the biosphere is barely extra within the human curiosity class than “richest guy on Earth goes to space, hoots and hollers for a few minutes.” Last 12 months noticed record-breaking wildfires, record-breaking hurricanes, humanitarian disasters, and excessive warmth. Covid-19 additionally intersected with local weather considerations in very actual methods; coal miners, for instance, feared for his or her lives after a long time of inhaling poisonous mud underground. There was no scarcity of human curiosity tales in terms of local weather disasters the place TV morning exhibits may make the connection really feel extra actual. (The similar is true for any variety of matters not outstanding within the information however actually price reporting.) Climate tales are throughout us, simply ready to be instructed. And a number of the strongest media corporations on Earth would somewhat go them up whilst they dedicate hours to Jeff Bezos’ flight.

Of course, fluffing up billionaires’ moneymaking endeavors isn’t precisely something new. Another view of the phenomenon—let’s name it Billionaire Stockholm Syndrome—was on show lower than two weeks in the past when Bezos’ billionaire bête noire, Richard Branson, blasted into house for a couple of minutes on his rival firm’s spaceplane. Wall-to-wall protection ended up which means that local weather scientist Katharine Hayhoe acquired bumped from CNN to speak concerning the warmth wave tens of millions of individuals caught on Earth have been dwelling by means of. While Branson was floating mid-air, Death Valley registered the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth and a whole bunch had died in a warmth wave that hit the Northwest the week earlier than. But Branson’s little journey was deemed extra newsworthy.

At the time of Branson’s flight, a TV information producer instructed Earther that one situation was rankings simply aren’t nearly as good for local weather tales. That’s taken as proof viewers don’t need to watch these kinds of segments, which is then used as an excuse to maintain breathlessly overlaying the likes of Branson and Bezos as an alternative. But to me, it’s an indication that perhaps TV information and morning exhibits simply haven’t instructed local weather tales with the urgency they deserve.