After zero questions on climate were asked at Tuesday’s debate, young people call on MSNBC and the Washington Post to commit to make climate action central in next debate.

New York, NY — Today, dozens of people rallied inside of the New York Times Building in the wake of the most recent Democratic debate, which the New York Times co-hosted with CNN, where no questions were asked to candidates about their climate action plans. Young people with Sunrise Movement, 350 Action, and Fridays for our Future demanded accountability for the media company’s climate silence during the recent debate. During the rally, young people shared stories about what they have to lose to the climate crisis, and demanded that the Washington Post and MSNBC commit to air time on the Green New Deal in the next debate.

“Last month, 7.6 million people were on strike demanding climate action,” explains Esther Feldman, a 16-year-old member of Sunrise Movement NYC. “Despite this mass movement, during Tuesday’s debate the New York Times and CNN couldn’t bother to ask even one question about the climate crisis.”

In August, the DNC voted against hosting a climate debate despite the demands of millions of Americans and all leading Presidential Candidates. Instead, they promised young people that climate would be central in upcoming debates. While CNN and MSNBC both hosted climate town halls, viewership was one-tenth that of national debates.

 350Action Fellow and Sunrise NYC Organizer Jessie Bluedorn said, “It’s preposterous that no climate questions were asked in the debate given recent climate impacts such as Hurricane Dorian that wreaked havoc in the Bahamas and the wildfires and power outages that Californians are currently experiencing. It is not appropriate for the media to ignore the climate crisis in national debates, or silo them into a one time TV special. The primaries are the window for Americans to consider how candidates plan to address the climate crisis and the line of questioning on this should remain consistent. We deserve to hear where the candidates stand on our generation’s chance at a livable future.”

The next debate is scheduled to be held in Georgia on November 20th. Young people are calling on the media hosts for the event, Washington Post and MSNBC, to make public commitments to ensure that the climate crisis and the Green New Deal are central topics in the discussion.

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Press Contacts: Thanu Yakupitiyage, 350 Action Communications, [email protected]

On the ground contact: Nicole Karsch, [email protected], 6105510969

For Photos, click HERE.