Bali Blog Blather Malkin-Style

onDec 17, 2007 @ 23:58 PST

A quick spin around blog-land reveals where the real hot air on global warming is coming from.

Michelle “I want to be Bill O’Reilly” Malkin doesn’t even write about the UN global warming conference in Bali, she just defers to Fox News.

In the same post Malkin mocks Yvo De Boer, the chair of the Bali conference, for caring enough about an issue to get emotional about it (god forbid!).

Powerline bloggers, the manly men they are, link to another blog featuring Santa with naked elves that mocks the EU head negotiator and comes up with catchy captions like: “Oh, Sweet Gaia, he did play joke and put pee pee in my Coke,” and “Stay away from my boogers!”

Newsbusters, just echoes Malkin and Fox News.

Matt Drudge pretends to be non-partisan about the whole thing (yah) and just links to the same story Malkin does.

And as usual, schlock jock Rush Limbaugh takes it just that tad bit too far by calling Yvo De Boer an “Eco Freak.”

And sadly, this is what millions read for updates on the United Nations conference in Bali.

No wonder the public is cynical and confused – this isn’t media, or information, it’s pure sensationalism aimed at ticking off people like me who will react, link to their websites and help them make more ad revenue.

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By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.