SICK, Callous Press Celebrated Environmental ‘Silver Lining’ of Deadly Pandemic

Friday’s Earth Day celebrations were celebrated by the media with even more lectures about how expensive left-wing solutions are needed to climate change.  It’s true, NBC promoted it throughout the week. But nothing compares to the callous, horrific way the networks used the pandemic — the death of millions — to cheer the “environmental upside” of COVID.

Through 2020 and 2021, journalists celebrated that less people means less global warming. (See our study here). They also offered a tone deaf perspective on the carnage. This episode aired on April 22, 2020. Today, Al Roker celebrated the environmental upside as the economy ground to a halt: “There is less foot traffic and less waste. This allows certain animals to flourish, while also reducing energy consumption.”

April 19, 2020 CBS This Morning journalist Vladimir Duthiers hoped for a “little bit of silver lining” to the pandemic.” Talking about an increase in water clarity in Italy, he added, “This is Venice…. You can never see the waters because they’re so murky from all the boats. This time, now you can see the crystal-clear waters of the Venice canals.”

Here’s the video montage NewsBusters Media Editor Bill D’Agostino created of the cringe-inducing comments:

These journalists see people as humans, and this was evident in 2021 and 2020. Problem. On April 1, 2021 Today, Kerry Sanders lectured viewers, some who may have lost loved ones to COVID: ““When the nation and world shut down, Planet Earth got a rare break…”

To all those impacted by this killer virus, do you feel comforted that the Earth “got a rare break”? Sanders featured University of Miami professor Ben Kirtman who offered this alarming take on the coronavirus: “It’s a gift to the science, but it’s also a gift to us. To the society. The human race. It demonstrates we can do this.”

To read the full study I collaborated on with Bill D’Agostino, go here. 

We call this the Flashback Collection. NewsBusters Time MachineGo here.