In a nation mired in the insults flying about from the contest to become the next US president, the world鈥檚 biggest long-term issue, climate change, is getting buried.
On Sunday night, at the second debate between the candidates 鈥� in which questions from voters were put to them 鈥� the journalists moderating the event once again failed to directly ask Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton how they will combat it.
To open proceedings, CNN鈥檚 Anderson Cooper and ABC鈥檚 Martha Raddatz asked Trump to account for a taped conversation from 2005 in which he outrageously bragged about sexual advances on women. The choice was obvious and justifiable, given the firestorm over the comments and the nature of his behaviour.
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But for the rest of the 90 minutes, the two journalists had ample opportunity to ask about climate change as they selected questions from those submitted by voters online or attending the debate.
One they ignored was the submitted online. Receiving close to 50,000 votes, it was direct: 鈥淲hat are the steps you will take to address climate change?鈥�
Late show
Instead, with just a few minutes of the debate left, Cooper selected an audience question that reframed what was at stake for the planet and its population in terms of the future of US coal workers. The audience member : 鈥淲hat steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs, while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimising job loss for fossil power plant workers?鈥�
In his incoherent response, Republican candidate Trump declared that 鈥渆nergy is under siege by the Obama administration鈥�, and alleged that Clinton wanted to put all coal miners out of business. He promised to prioritise natural gas and a 鈥渢hing called clean coal鈥�.
Democrat rival Clinton reassured viewers that she would retain US energy independence by investing in natural gas, and that she had a plan to 鈥渞evitalise coal country鈥�. But her 鈥渃omprehensive energy policy鈥� also included 鈥渇ighting climate change鈥� because 鈥淚 think that is a serious problem鈥�, she said. 鈥淎nd I support moving toward more clean, renewable energy as quickly as we can, because I think we can be the 21st-century, clean-energy superpower and create millions of new jobs and businesses.鈥�
With the debate nearing an end, the moderators posed no follow-up questions and the candidates were unable to respond to each other鈥檚 statements. Climate change had been covered in the context of a single, 15-second sound bite from Clinton.
So far this election, after two presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate, more than 4.5 hours of prime opportunity have passed without a single direct question about climate change posed by any of the moderators, an unfathomable failure of journalistic judgement.
Principles ignored
In choosing questions to ask candidates, consider the three clear criteria that should guide moderators and how those criteria have been ignored on this subject.
The first is to ask questions about newsworthy issues and those of pressing importance. The weekend debate came just days after enough countries signed a landmark United Nations agreement on climate change for it to become international law next month and tens of thousands of people in Florida were forced to flee hurricane Matthew.
The second is to select issues that clearly divide the candidates. Trump has called climate change a 鈥渉oax鈥�, vowed to end the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions introduced by the Obama administration and pledged to withdraw from the UN agreement. Clinton has described climate change as the 鈥溾��, agreed to build on Obama鈥檚 climate legacy and promised to honour the UN agreement.
The third is to follow up during questioning, pressing each candidate on the specifics of how they would address the issue. In asking about Syria, for example, moderators at each debate pushed the candidates to precisely explain the military and diplomatic actions they would pursue.
Yet when the candidates have mentioned climate change or energy policy, there have been no such follow-up questions. As a result, Trump has been able to misleadingly allude to 鈥渃lean coal鈥� technologies that do not yet exist and Clinton has not been asked specifics about how she would turn the US into a 鈥渃lean energy superpower鈥�.
The third and final presidential debate will be held on 19 October, hosted by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace. Given his of denying climate change and spreading false claims that it is a hoax, it is unlikely that Wallace will ask about the issue.
So, unless the unexpected happens, six hours of presidential and vice-presidential debates will have passed without a single question focusing on climate change. We should all be outraged.
