The Live Earth concert promoted by former Vice President Al Gore received plenty of media coverage and hype, but most Americans tuned out. . . .
Skepticism about the participants may have been a factor in creating this low level of interest. Most Americans (52%) believe the performers take part in such events because it is good for their image. Only 24% say the celebrities really believe in the cause while another 24% are not sure. One rock star who apparently shared that view is Matt Bellamy of the band Muse. Earlier in the week, he jokingly referred to Live Earth as “private jets for climate change.”
Only 34% believe that events like Live Earth actually help the cause they are intended to serve. Forty-one percent (41%) disagree. Those figures include 10% who believe the events are Very Helpful and 20% who say they are Not at All Helfpul. Adding to the skepticism, an earlier survey found that just 24% of Americans consider Al Gore an expert on Global Warming.
Given a choice of four major issues before the United States today, 36% named the war in Iraq as most important. Twenty-five percent (25%) named immigration, 20% selected the economy and only 12% thought Global Warming was the top issue.
As I’ve suggested in the past, turning the hype-engine to 11 has probably done more harm than good. (Via NewsAlert). As Jack Shafer writes, in journalism, green is the new yellow.
Plus, a global-warming bet from Professor Scott Armstrong.
UPDATE: British TV ratings were a bust.
Plus, a Live Earth environmental assessment.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Howard Kurtz discovers that it’s not media bias if they believe in it:
NBC and its cable networks devoted a total of 35 hours of air time Saturday to the Live Earth concerts, organized by Al Gore to call attention to what he calls a global warming “crisis.”
The worldwide series of concerts, featuring 150 artists from Madonna to Red Hot Chili Peppers, was also designed to raise money for the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit group chaired by the former vice president. Commercials aired at a reduced rate.
Doesn’t this strike a discordant note? Wasn’t NBC, whose news division covers the debate over climate change, providing a huge platform for advocates on one side of a contentious issue? And isn’t the network helping a prominent Democrat — who granted “Today” an interview last week in which he was asked again about his presidential ambitions — raise money?
Dan Harrison, an NBC senior vice president, does not back away from the message. He calls the Gore effort “an initiative we believe in,” including parent company General Electric. “I really don’t think climate change is a political issue,” Harrison says.
Really?
Green is the new yellow. Except that I think Hearst and the Yellow Journalists knew what they were doing. These guys are so clueless that they really believe there’s nothing political about causes they agree with. Or maybe I’m giving them too much, er, credit.