The Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA, which severely curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases, was widely covered across the three major cable news networks. On June 30, the day the decision was announced, original programming on CNN covered the ruling for approximately 62 minutes across 21 segments, while MSNBC covered it for approximately 47 minutes across 20 segments. Fox News, which predictably celebrated the decision, covered it for 37 minutes across 16 segments.
With only 10 segments mentioning the fossil fuel industry 8 mentions on MSNBC and 2 on CNN cable news outlets missed a key opportunity to mention how the fossil fuel industry helped shape the ruling or stands to benefit from it. They also failed to frame the decision via an environmental justice lens with only 1 MSNBC segment mentioning how the decision would impact socially marginalized communities.
Despite this, CNN’s and MSNBC’s cove
On Saturday morning, MSNBC host Zerlina Maxwell interviewed 20-year-old radical leftist Jamie Margolin, “founder of the youth-led climate activist group Zero Hour.” The rabble-rouser went straight for the panic button, saying recent Supreme Court decisions on abortion and climate are a “judicial coup” and a “clear descent into fascism.”