Palmer recently told his joint staff via email that when "Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories." Palmer then added, "Until then, no more."
The email message Palmer sent to his staff during this last summer ended up in the hands of the New York Times. One of Palmer's former staff members confirmed the email message went out during the summer after one of the stations broadcasted a live report from a movie theater in Maine where Al Gore�s movie on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," was opening.
Mr. Palmer started his email message by saying "I was wondering where we should send the bill for the live shot Friday at the theater for the Al Gore commercial we aired." He then indicated that he wanted no more stories broadcast on global warming because it isn't local news, and has evolved from a scientific issue into a political one.
Dr. James Hansen -- the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration�s Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University -- said in an interview yesterday that the station�s policy on coverage was irresponsible. "If you wait until Bar Harbor is underwater, it�s too late � it won�t be just Bar Harbor that is underwater, but many places around the globe including parts of Florida, Bangladesh and the Nile Delta."
In addition to his initial words, Dr. Hansen added that it was "very clear that this is a real issue and we need to address it very promptly." Dr. Hansen went on to say that there was more than one source for information on global warming around the country -- and that he assumed "that the people of Maine will have at their disposal other sources of information."
Palmer did not respond when contacted about his email directive.
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