Big Three Evening Networks Ignore SEC’s Green Tyranny

A powerful government regulator is trying to force all publicly traded companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and their supposed climate risks.

But the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news shows squelched the green tyranny announcement, giving it zero coverage on four consecutive days this week. [bold, links added]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule that would mandate “hundreds of businesses report their planet-warming emissions in a standardized way,” according to The Washington Post.

The March 21 Post story fawned over the news as a reflection of President Joe Biden’s so-called leadership in fighting climate change.

The New York Times similarly framed the SEC’s proposed rule as a significant achievement in freeing up the Biden administration’s “stalled environmental agenda.”

But the green tyranny announcement received zero coverage from ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news networks from March 21 to March 24.

The panel’s lone Republican was the only one to oppose the anti-free-market SEC proposal. This eco-extremism move comes amid a wave of large corporations adopting Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programs.

According to Investopedia, ESG is a set of standards that investors use to consider investment targets in light of their environmental stewardship, social consciousness, and executive leadership practices.

NBC’s sister network CNBC fielded criticism of ESGs in an interview that aired on March 24. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said, “[T]he whole ESG movement is not reflective of what the average American wants.”

Americans, Sullivan argued, understand that “when you restrict the production of American energy and make it harder to produce, the results are very predictable:” higher gas prices, fewer jobs, and stronger enemies abroad.

The Post described the proposed rule as a big win for environmentalists who hailed it as “a crucial first step in forcing the private sector” to address climate change. In other words, the SEC’s proposed rule appears to be a giant leap forward for the radical environmentalist movement. 

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board responded to the news more critically:

“The Biden Administration is continuing its war on fossil fuels as if energy security doesn’t matter.” The Journal also claimed that the SEC’s climate rules “will saddle companies with new costs, discourage private firms from going public, and encourage some public firms to go private.”

The Journal Editorial Board also explained that “[t]he main intent of the rule is to make it easier for left-leaning asset managers like BlackRock, public pension funds, and trial lawyers to bully companies.” [Emphasis added.]

Visiting fellow in business and economic freedom at The Heritage Foundation, Andrew Puzder, co-wrote a commentary slamming “unelected and unaccountable functionaries” like SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for pressing woke ESG regulations on Americans.

Puzder quoted West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore, who criticized BlackRock for embracing woke investment strategies that harm the energy sector, “while increasing investments in Chinese companies.’”

Read more at NewsBusters