Democrat, Greens Fume over NBC’s Global Warming ‘Debate’

Senate Democrats recently joined a longstanding liberal coalition of media critics to demand that major news networks up their coverage of climate change.

This is not what they had in mind.

Sunday's episode of NBC's "Meet the Press" featured a "climate change debate" between celebrity science educator Bill Nye ("the science guy") and Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

For the political coalition—and, indeed, for the overwhelming majority of climate scientists— the connection between human greenhouse gas emissions and climate change is settled science, and they were hoping the networks would cover the impacts of that change.  But Blackburn has disputed the scientific consensus on human-induced global warming, and the segment's critics fear the episode will feature a he-said-she-said vibe that's at odds with the science.

"Next week's debate:  Do cigarettes cause cancer?  An oncologist debates a tobacco executive!," writes environmentalist Miles Grant on his blog.

Democrat, Greens Fume over NBC’s Global Warming ‘Debate’