Press barred from Gore's RSA speech

A not so subtle reminder in the Working Press Room on Friday morning.

(Credit: Robert Vamosi / CNET Networks)

When Al Gore agreed to talk at the end of the RSA 2008 conference, the 2007 Nobel Laureate stipulated in his contract with RSA that no members of the press would be allowed inside the keynote address. Many of my colleagues in the press were put out about this, and rightly so.

Fortunately, this year I was registered as a speaker at RSA 2008, so I didn't have my usual press pass (although the nice guardians at the press room door certainly didn't stop me from going inside).

Since individual attendees at RSA are allowed to blog and to take photographs at the conference, I feel I was within my rights to do so.

After hearing Gore's speech (which is very similiar to the talk he gave at TED and can be viewed in its entirety online), I'm unclear why Gore would want to bar the very people who can best get his message out. Yes, I am sympathetic to Gore's central message. And I understand there are those who do not agree with his point of view (as evidenced by the three protesters). But since nothing new was added here, why all the secrecy?

Or was it all a media stunt?

[MyRightEye]

It would be nice if you were sympathetic, not apathetic...

...to the DATA!

And not some man's message.

http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Widesc
ale+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm

[feranick]

Why so secretive?

I won't go in the merit of what AG had to say. What bothers me a lot is the usual secretive, "copyrighted" atmosphere that surrounds Gore's talks. You can't tape it, you can't take pictures, everything is prohibited. If the topic is really so important to humanity, so then why being so closed and restrictive about it? Why not making the material available for free for schools? What's wrong with distributing the presentation he gave? If Al Gore would really like to propose his argumentations as scientific, he should be open about it. Otherwise is plain politics.

It reminds me of Apple. Great products, but you are only allowed to use them as the company wants it. No wonders that Al Gore sits on Apple's board.
Will we ever going to sign an EULA everytime we want to watch Gore's presentation?

[georgiarat]

Sympathetic?

So the author is sympathetic to Al Gore's message. I thought
that was true of almost all press. Why not. They are trained by
the journalistic schools to not think but to be lemmings to the
liberal message no matter what it is. If they sun rises in the
West that is fact. Man is the cause of so-called global warming
that is fact. Man is cause of global cooling that is fact. Millions
of poor in America that is fact. Too bad they have no brains.
Those who do can. Those who can't teach. Those who can do
neither or liberal journalists.

[The_Decider]

wow

Too bad the "liberal media" is a myth.

Check out who owns and controls the majority of the media.

Then ask yourself why Clinton got slammed for everything, even minor crap and the majority of the mainstream press has Given our wanna be dictator Bush nearly a free ride for 7 years.

That damn liberal media!

[gringoloco2000]

I was there. Here is my report.

I was there today for Gore's speech at RSA. The rule was that you could only take pictures or video for the first 5 minutes. That is exactly how long it took him to provide some comical stories that had nothing to do with global warming. I stopped filming and put my camera away. Others at my table kept filming until the guards came around and told them that they would be asked to leave if they did not stop filming. I watched the guards methodically go through the crowd and stop each and every person that had an obvious LCD lit. After 15 minutes into the meat of his speech, Gore exclaimed that "the Arctic ice cap will be completely melted within 5 years". You could hear some gasps in the crowd. Not sure what others thought, but I thought it was without merit. So now it gets good. About a minute later, a brave young woman in her early twenties near the front row begins to tell Gore that he is wrong. He trys to laugh it off. She stays standing and continues to yell at him. Before her interruption many people began to leave early. I think the 5 year melting of the arctic was too much. So, she continues. The guards close in on her. I decided to follow her out. I could not take it anymore. I wanted to say something to her. I make it to the door right behind her. She is being escorted by three guards. I managed to get close to her and thanked her. She smiled and said your welcome. A cop meets them outside and continues with them up the escalator. I follow behind on the escalator. I hear really loud singing. A group of 10 or more come out of the keynote room singing a funny song. It was something like "Al Gore NotCo2, blah blah blah" The NotCo2 part sounded like Nazi. They followed close behind me on the escalator. There seemed to be more commotion and I witnessed many more people leaving early after I had exited. When we reached the top of the escalator, the cops and guards escorted the woman away. I did not catch where they went. The singers made to the top and then disappeared in an unknown direction. There was quite a bit of confusion going on. My thought is that the speech was cut short by so many leaving and the few causing the disruption. He got what he deserved. Maybe there was some disrespect, but when you bar the press and any recording of an event, you have to wonder. What is the big secret? Must be a thin skin issue.

[bschmidt25]

Thanks

Just want to say thanks for the report since no one else is going to cover it. Gore constantly gets a pass on making unsubstantiated (or at the very least debatable) claims that he benefits hugely from financially. His hypocrisy is breathtaking. While he's busy scolding everyone for ruining the environment by their own activities, he hops on a private jet to give these speeches all over the country and lives in a 10000 square foot house that uses 20 times more electricity than the average household. Oh wait... I forgot about those carbon offsets. But that doesn't change the fact that he's still using that much energy up front. And how many carbon credits do you think he would have to buy to fly a jet across the country? Something tells me he's not covering that 100%...

Look, I'm all for conservation and finding alternative energy sources. I just don't think that Gore is the guy that should be the poster boy of ecology everyone (including himself) makes him out to be.

[moyer1dl]

Not totally Accurate

I was there also, and this person makes it seem like there was some mass exit of this keynote because people were disgusted with it. Sure there were some that were leaving but the majority of the crowd stayed and cheered supportively. The speech also was not cut short, but went longer than scheduled. To my recollection it was only to go to 3:00PM but went to 3:15. In fact, I was late for my ride because of it. Perhaps the 5-year thing was a bit inflammatory, but our environment is getting to the tipping point of disaster and this was probably an act of desperation to get some kind progress going with global warming. We should be reacting to this as if there were only five years. Scientists have said the once global warming reaches a certain point it is too late to turn back.

[The_Decider]

It always makes my day...

...when a CNET writer implies he/she is a journalist.

Thanks for the laugh!

[bob1xxxx]

why the secrecy?

Because he's a fraud, green shirt environmental
thug, tying to get people to buy fraudulent carbon off sets from his company that conveniently never discloses his massive confict of interest. Al gore gobal warming campaign is going to go down in history as one of the greatest pseudo scientific frauds in modern history along with mesmerism, phrenology and Adolf Hitler's theorys on racial selection all tied for first place. He's a dupe, a buffoon and a moron on a good day and on a bad day he's a shill for the carbon off sets that his investment company selling. He's worried people are catching on. So he controling his press access to "friend fellow traveler tree hugging media types and is engaging in supression of any opposing ideas,with a campaign that Ernest Rohm and Heinrich Himmler blush with it audacity and masterful suppression of sensible opposing view points. Thats why no media at the rsa, all resonable questions are heresy and need to be crush by Gore's environmental green shirt movement.

[Electro_Fox]

I was there too...

And could NOT believe some of his statements... I admit, when he stated that, as a matter of scientific fact, that the polar ice would be gone in 5 years, I was one of the MANY who gasped. (BTW, GringoLoco, thanks for your report) After that he continued on at times pining even. He also stated that San Francisco, Seattle, the French Riviera, all coastal cities, etc would be under 10-20 feet of water after the ice melts! ?@%*#! (Personally I wouldn't care if his fantasy came true, I live on a houseboat :p) I cannot believe that statements such as these are not only made by a 'Nobel Laureate', but believed and parroted by MUCH more intelligent people. As my father always said, "Follow the money". And to this day that remains a reliable litmus test for me... 'Nuff said.

[moyer1dl]

I got to hand it to AL

Even with everyone trying to capture video of the speech, I have searched the Internet and have found minimum coverage of this event. I found only one picture which was from CNET.

[jady_flatline]

hrmm

You must have been getting a different newspaper and network news feed than me. And several hundred other million Americans.... Clinton didn't receive non-supportive mainstream press until the Monica Lewinski stuff broke (yeah, yeah double negative, it had a different implied meaning than the single negative).

[savagesteve13]

Why so worried?

I'm more worried about Bush's obsession with secrecy and his blocking of the press. After all, Gore's not president, Bush is, and Bush is the one who is destroying our constitution and handing over our country to corporations, not Al.

[Guilden_NL]

Gore Doesn't Respect Free Speech

Especially now he's a soon to be a billionaire. If ***he*** doesn't control the dialogue, he doesn't want any dialogue.

Al is a dangerous dude and should be made to wear a tattoo on his forehead stating such.