April 24, 2007

NBC Nightly News promotes left-wing environmental group "Step It Up"

Tonight's NBC Nightly News featured Brian Williams introducing a segment on a group called "Step It Up" which wants to end global warming and which held marchs across the U.S. on the 14th. The report was all bright and happy and wholesome.

Then, of course, I looked up the group itself to find what they weren't telling their millions of viewers. As it turns out at least their "Partners and Allies" include several left-wing groups, yet - oddly enough - Brian Williams didn't disclose any such inclinations Step It Up might have.

It's run by Bill McKibben, a well-known environmentalist, writer, academic, hiker, etc. There doesn't appear to be much "opposition research" on him, but in 1999 he was called a "left-wing ecologist" here.

A look at their "Partners and Allies" page (stepitup2007.org/links.php) shows - in addition to many usual suspects such as the Sierra Club - several left-wing but not extremely radical groups, such as:

* Center For Biological Diversity
* Codepink - Women for Peace (run by Susan "Medea" Benjamin)
* Global Exchange (ditto)
* MoveOn.org
* No War No Warming! (trying to bring together environmental and anti-war movements)
* Physicians For Social Responsibility
* SEIU (Service Employees International Union)
* United for Peace and Justice

Can the reader imagine NBC News featuring their opposite number without using the word "conservative" or similar?

Posted to Miscellania at April 24, 2007 07:54 PM