Is bluster considered part of global warming?
Al Gore, who recently pocketed an estimated $100 million from selling his struggling Current TV network to Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, sidestepped questions of “hypocrisy” on yesterday’s “Today” show.
Gore was on the show to promote his new book, “The Future: Six Drivers of Social Change.”
Matt Lauer immediately asked Gore — known for his strong beliefs in global warming — about a section of his book in which Gore criticizes “virtually every news and political commentary program on television” for being “sponsored in part by oil, coal and gas companies . . . with messages designed to soothe and reassure the audience that everything is fine, the global environment is not threatened.”
“Critics jumped, ‘Here’s the guy who just sold Current TV to Al Jazeera, which gets an undetermined amount of funds from Qatar, which gets its money from oil reserves,” Lauer said.
“Isn’t there a contradiction in that?”
“I certainly understand the criticism,” Gore answered. “I disagree with it, because I think Al Jazeera has obviously long-established itself as a really distinguished and effective newsgathering organization.
“And, by the way, its climate coverage has been far more extensive and of high quality than any of the [US] networks.”
Lauer, though, pressed Gore on the issue.
“But if [Al Jazeera] gets funding from a country that bases its wealth on fossil fuels, and fossil fuels is the enemy [of global warming], isn’t there a bit of hypocrisy in that?” he asked Gore.
“I get the criticism. But I disagree with it,” Gore repeated. “[Al Jazeera] has established itself . . . and its climate coverage has been outstanding and extensive.”