GMA Wonders Who Gets ‘Credit’ For Public Shift on Global Warming

On the Sunday edition of "Good Morning America," co-host Ron Claiborne narrated a celebratory piece on the origins of Earth Day. He noted how the opinions of Americans on environmental issues have changed and asserted, "at least some of the credit goes to former Vice President Al Gore."

Additionally, Claiborne interviewed the founder of Earth Day, Denis Hayes. Labeled as simply the first event’s "coordinator" by an onscreen ABC graphic, the GMA host never mentioned Hayes’ radical agenda or any of this incendiary comments. After claiming that "green has gone mainstream," Claiborne discussed the origins of Earth Day:

RON CLAIBORNE: "On that first Earth Day, demonstrators planted trees, held mock funerals, and some wore gas masks to signify what they foresaw as a future ecological disaster."

DENIS HAYES (Coordinator, first Earth Day): "The organizers of it were really upset with the fact that their lungs were corroding and their streams were catching on fire and America seemed to be heading in the wrong direction at an accelerating rate."

CLAIBORNE: "Denis Hayes, then a graduate student at Harvard, who helped organize the first Earth Day, says Americans finally get it."

DENIS HAYES: "We've now had hit the stage where I think everybody wants to have a solution, and it's time to start focusing to make sure that we get the right solution."

For the May 1990 issue of the MediaWatch, the MRC conducted a study on the network coverage of that year’s Earth Day:

In the midst of all the feel-good stories about cleaning up roadsides and recycling beer cans, the networks failed to investigate the radical views of Earth Day organizers. In 1970 organizer Denis Hayes explained the true Earth Day agenda: "I suspect that the politicians and businessmen who are jumping on the environment bandwagon don't have the slightest idea what they are getting into. They are talking about emission control devices on automobiles, while we are talking about bans on automobiles."

In fact, the same issue of MediaWatch observed that ABC anchor Peter Jennings made Denis Hayes his "Person of the Week," lauding him as "the true believer whose reverence for life has always been a calling, never a fashion, who millions of Americans owe a vote of thanks."

Claiborne closed the report by discussing who should receive the "credit" for the public’s changing opinion on issues such as global warming:

CLAIBORNE: "In a new ABC News poll, the number of Americans who say global warming is our greatest environmental concern has doubled in just the last year. At least some credit goes to former Vice President Al Gore, who made 'An Inconvenient Truth,’ the Oscar-winning documentary about global warming, and earlier this year, testified on Capitol Hill about climate change."

AL GORE: "The planet has a fever."

CLAIBORNE: "Entertainers like Leonardo DiCaprio and Sheryl Crow have used their celebrity to draw attention to environmental issues."

SHERYL CROW ('STOP GLOBAL WARMING COLLEGE TOUR"): "I am here because the more I learn about global warming, the more I feel compelled to do something."

While Al Gore and Sheryl Crow definitely deserve "credit" for convincing Americans that liberal solutions must be adopted to fight global warming, isn’t it slightly disingenuous to ignore the media’s role in cajoling Americans to worry about global warming? A recent study by the Media Research Center examined 115 climate change stories in 2007 and found that only 3 percent of them mentioned any doubt as to Al Gore’s interpretation of impending catastrophe.

So, when Mr. Claiborne touts the fact that "green is now mainstream," it’s important to remember how it got that way.

A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:08am on April 22, follows:

KATE SNOW: "Thirty-seven years ago, it quickly grew from a grassroots rally to a worldwide movement involving millions of people. And Ron is here with more on 'The Greening of America.' What's happened in this country since that very first Earth Day. Ron?

RON CLAIBORNE: Kate, America is a more environmentally conscious and environmentally concerned country than we were back in 1970, when Earth Day was considered by many to be a quaint and even alarmist movement. It turns out that first Earth Day marked the beginning of a major change in how Americans look at the environment and our responsibility for it. Green is now mainstream."

CLAIBORNE: "April 22nd, 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans take to the nation's streets and parks demanding change, change to save the environment."

MAYOR JOHN LINDSAY (NEW YORK CITY): "What we really face is not air or water pollution, but the pollution of life itself."

RON CLAIBORNE: "On that first Earth Day, demonstrators planted trees, held mock funerals, and some wore gas masks to signify what they foresaw as a future ecological disaster."

DENIS HAYES (Coordinator, First Earth Day): "The organizers of it were really upset with the fact that their lungs were corroding and their streams were catching on fire and America seemed to be heading in the wrong direction at an accelerating rate."

Claiborne: "Denis Hayes, then a graduate student at Harvard, who helped organize the first Earth Day, says Americans finally get it."

DENIS HAYES: "We've now had hit the stage where I think everybody wants to have a solution, and it's time to start focusing to make sure that we get the right solution."

CLAIBORNE: "If there is a single issue that raised Americans' environmental consciousness and alarm, it is global warming. Most Americans are now convinced that manmade emissions are heating up the planet and that the consequences are potentially catastrophic."

BEN JERVEY (ENVIRONMENTALIST): "The results are, you know, frankly, disturbing, that they're, they're alarming. We need to, we need to act soon."

CLAIBORNE: "In a new ABC News poll, the number of Americans who say global warming is our greatest environmental concern has doubled in just the last year. At least some credit goes to former Vice President Al Gore, who made 'An Inconvenient Truth," the Oscar-winning documentary about global warming, and earlier this year, testified on Capitol Hill about climate change."

AL GORE: "The planet has a fever."

CLAIBORNE: "Entertainers like Leonardo DiCaprio and Sheryl Crow have used their celebrity to draw attention to environmental issues."

SHERYL CROW ('STOP GLOBAL WARMING COLLEGE TOUR"): "I am here because the more I learn about global warming, the more I feel compelled to do something."

CLAIBORNE: "Even many big businesses, once the scourge of environmentalists, have begun to take heed."

DENIS HAYES: "A whole lot of people who were taking part in that first Earth Day are now CEOs of major corporations and they're bringing a different set of values to bare than their predecessors had."

RON CLAIBORNE: "Mega-companies, like Wal-Mart, Federal Express, Starbucks, even oil companies, are now taking steps to reduce their environmental impact and realizing that it can actually be good for business."

JOEL MAKOWER (Executive Editor, Greenbiz website): "This has definitely have been an evolution, but I think just in the past 18 months, it's really starting to become a revolution."

RON CLAIBORNE: "It took 37 years, but it's a start. Today, at over 18,000 events across the globe, millions of people will again gather for Earth Day, this time, to demand more change. Earth Day planners say raising awareness was a huge step towards saving the planet. They say the challenge now is to turn resolve into effective action before it's too late. Kate?"