They won't have to fire a gun to take over.

[justgamma]

The chief meteorologist for a Des Moines news station announced Wednesday he is stepping down after receiving violent threats for his frank coverage of the climate emergency and how it could affect his viewers' lives—something he considered a mission as he regularly delivered news about the weather to Iowa residents.

[progressoid]

1. Sickening

CNN —

Chris Gloninger spent the last 18 years breaking down Iowa’s latest local weather news. This week, he is making the news.

After spending the last two years as chief meteorologist at Des Moines news station KCCI, a CNN affiliate, Gloninger announced Wednesday he is resigning as one of the many faces of local TV weather.

His departure comes months after receiving a series of harassing emails from a viewer who disagreed with one thing he did on-air: he explained how weather was linked to the climate crisis. He also received other negative feedback via private messages and social media, which has become a common experience for weather and climate communicators.

...

Gloninger’s experience is not an isolated one. Climate change has become a highly politicized topic, despite hundreds of global scientists concluding it is “unequivocal” that humans have caused the crisis and that “widespread and rapid changes” have already occurred around the world.

Climate communicators, journalists, meteorologists and national weather services, including those in the US, Spain and Australia, have reported an increase in harassment, threats and abuse for connecting extreme weather events to climate change.

In France, for instance, meteorologists have been accused of overstating the country’s drought and heat. Météo France, the French national meteorological service, said the agency’s communications are “the object of more and more repeated attacks,” a Météo France spokesperson previously told CNN.


...https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/weather/iowa-meteorologist-resigns-threats-weather-climate/index.html

[orthoclad]

2. Protect the honest!

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18037739

I add scientists to the ranks of the honest people needing protection from the villains.

[LoisB]

3. How ignorant does one have to be to go after a meteorologist? Whatever happened to just

throwing your beer at the television set if you don't like the weather report?