CNN, it should be said, is the only news outlet-broadcast or print-that appears to have covered Saturday’s forum as something more than a set of stump speeches. In a three-minute segment posted online today, correspondent Bill Schneider talks less about what was said at the gathering and more about how difficult it is to focus the public’s attention on energy and the environment. He mentions the “first-ever” bit, and he interviews Roberts after the forum, where the Grist columnist made many of the same media-oriented complaints that he made to me last Friday.


Four years from now, as a new batch of candidates gears up to challenge whoever wins this presidential election, I predict that a forum (or even a full-fledged debate) dedicated to energy and global warming will seem obvious and draw the coverage it deserves. Perhaps more candidates will attend, and the organizers will be more prepared than they were this time. Then, maybe, I can stop complaining about the media putting the event in context, and focus on what is actually said.

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