A few days ago, to consternation by some of Andrew C. Revkin‘s friends and especially those within the blogosphere, radio talkmeister and conservative lightning rod Rush Limbaugh said on the air that the New York Times reporter ought, if he really thinks mankind is capable to destroying life on Earth, to just go kill himself. The video of Limbaugh’s proposal is on Media Matters.

Among the blowbacks among bloggers was  at CEJournal, by Tom Yulsman at the Univ. of Colorado’s School of Journalism. Andy Revkin’s reaction on line is here. The attack, vicious even if not meant literally, was prompted by comments by Revkin on the role of overpopulation in climate change and similar environmental worries.

And now this particularly rabid – even by radio talk standards – attack has made it into the mainstream. NPR‘s David Folkenflik reports it today on Morning Edition.

Folkenflik uses the episode as a news lede on a broader report on Revkin’s distinct mix of conventional news reporting, largely on climate change related topics, and his blog where he participates extensively in the policy discussions about that same topic. The piece is at heart an exploration of the changing roles of major media reporters, with Revkin example A, as the categories within the journalism trade go through the internet mixmaster. It also includes reminder that Revkin gets attacked from the left, too, although not as often as from the right.

And the piece notes a particular irony. While Limbaugh compared many enviros and other “wackos” worried over climate change to murderous, suicide-bombing “jihadists,” Revkin’s 19-year-old son recently signed up with the Israeli Self-Defense Forces to perhaps face the very so-called jihadists with which Limbaugh has compared the young man’s father. The senior Revkin wants Limbaugh to apologize to him and to his family.

- Charlie Petit

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm and is filed under About Journalism, Environment & Energy Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.