Exposed: The Climate of Fear

Exposed: The Climate of Fear (Exposed) was an hour-long episode of the Glenn Beck show highlighting the skeptic's perspective on the global warming controversy, originally aired May 2 2007 on CNN Headline News. In the episode, Beck, a conservative radio and television host, says that the program presents the "other side of the climate debate that you don't hear anywhere." Participants interviewed by Beck concur that the Earth is warming, but disagree with the scientific consensus that human activity is largely responsible. Exposed is highly critical of Al Gore and his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. This special is also heavily critical of the Kyoto Protocol and downplays concern over global warming as a whole, claiming that many scientists disagree with the scientific consensus but do not state their criticism publicly due to fear of career reprisals.

The episode reportedly finished in last place in the ratings for its timeslots.

Episode content and claims
In his opening remarks, Beck says, "I want you to know right up front, this is not a balanced look at global warming. It is the other side of the climate debate that you don't hear anywhere."

In the show Beck strongly criticizes the Kyoto Protocol, calling it an "expensive and unfunny joke" and claiming that it unfairly restricts developed nations while permitting developing nations greater leeway. He also encourages construction of nuclear power plants, blaming "environmental panic" for the lack of such facilities in the U.S.

Media Matters for America noted that Beck often cites debunked scientists to support his claims, repeatedly advances "falsehoods related to global climate change", and has a history of attacking Gore. Beck has likened Gore's climate change awareness campaign to Hitler's "rounding up the Jews and exterminating them." Media Matters also wrote that the episode's ratings were poor, finishing in last place in both the 7 PM and 9 PM timeslots behind regularly scheduled newscasts on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC.

Beck's claims regarding global warming led MSNBC analyst Keith Olbermann to list Beck as a finalist on his daily "Worst Person in the World" segment, noting that Beck's claims did not agree with scientific data.

Persons interviewed

A number of global warming skeptics are interviewed in the show, including:

* Timothy F. Ball, Natural Resources Stewardship Project
* John Christy, Alabama State Climatologist
* Christopher C. Horner, Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of
* David Legates, Climatologist, University of Delaware
* Marlo Lewis, Competitive Enterprise Institute
* Bjørn Lomborg, political scientist and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist
* Patrick Michaels, University of Virginia State Climatologist
* Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace

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