As catastrophic wildfires ravaged Southern California, the corporate liberal media displayed their worst habits while reporting on the disaster. [emphasis, links added]
From rabid screaming about climate change, to mindless defense of incompetent Democratic officials, to lashing out at Trump, Their coverage of the California wildfires perfectly highlights everything that is so scary about our leftist media.
As we've seen with how they cover hurricanes, they view every imaginable environmental disaster as an opportunity to talk dogmatically about climate change.
On January 8th on MSNBC 11th hourHost Stephanie Ruhle announced:
“Wildfires raging in Los Angeles highlight the risks of climate change – yes, climate change!”
That same night, CBS anchor Lindsey Reiser claimed on the network's streaming service:
“California's wildfires are It is the latest in a series of natural disasters exacerbated by climate change.“
That restraint continued into the weekend, until Monday, January 13, when CNN digital analyst Harry Enten told CNN News Center Co-host John Berman:
“Despite all these extreme weather events, Americans are indeed less worried about climate change than they were nearly 35 years ago. I mean, Mr. Berman, there's no real trend line here.
In other words, even though journalists have been calling out climate change for nearly 35 years, Americans are no more concerned about this issue now than they were in the 1980s.
Reporters also made sure to protect California officials from any and all scrutiny, especially when it comes from President-elect Trump.
January 8, Notorious climate alarmist Michael Mann called Trump's criticism of President Joe Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom “classically biased,” adding: “[it’s] Because he doesn’t want to talk about climate change.
At the same time, a chyron was displayed on the Internet, which read: “Trump falsely blames Biden and Newsom for wildfires.”
January 13, PBS NewsHour Co-host Jeff Bennett teased:
“As we continue to report on these destructive wildfires in the West, the governor of the state, the mayor of Los Angeles, they're really standing up to the attacks of Donald Trump and his allies.”
Of course, it takes a combination of factors for a wildfire to spread to such a large scale. But there is no doubt that mismanagement and incompetence played a role in causing this disaster.
Many other media outlets have detailed the gross incompetence of California and Los Angeles officials, so here are just two examples:
- In 2022, Newsom announced a plan to clear 400,000 acres a year through controlled or “prescribed” burning (One of the most important wildfire prevention measures). However, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center as of October 2024, In 2024, only 28,000 acres burned in California. Not only is that just 7 percent of what Newsom promised, but it's orders of magnitude less than the acreage burned in much smaller states like Alabama (602,000 acres), Arkansas (285,000 acres) and Georgia (1,396,000 acres).
- In addition to cutting the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) budget by $17.6 million, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has appointed a fire chief who is significantly more interested in DEI than in preventing or fighting fires. The Federalist's Beth Brelje recently took a closer look at the LAFD's strategic plan, and she found some priorities were seriously misaligned: “[T]The words “diverse” and “diversity” appear a total of 16 times; the word “water” appears only twice, and the word “fire hydrant” does not appear at all.
There are more accusations, but the point is, these talkers not only avoid discussing any of these egregious missteps by California officials, They flatly deny that the officials may have mishandled the situation from the start.
Read more at NewsBusters
