CNN HOST STELTER IN ON-AIR WRANGLE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE DENIER

Weather Channel founder John Coleman, who has found sympathetic interviewers on Fox News Channel for his view that climate change is a myth, appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, but his interviewer, host Brian Stelter, was not so sympathetic. When Stelter referred to him as a climate-change "denier," Coleman shot back, "I resent you calling me a denier. … I am a skeptic about climate change." Asked to explain why 97 percent of scientists have agreed that climate change is being caused by humans, Coleman replied that the U.S. government only funds scientists who "support the global warming hypothesis." Science, he said, is not about consensus, it’s "about facts, and if you get down to the hard, cold facts, there’s no question about it, climate change is not happening." When Stelter casually remarked that it was not likely that he and Coleman could agree on the subject, Coleman responded, "I know we’re not, because you wouldn’t allow it to happen on CNN." Neither, it seems, would The Weather Channel, which forced Coleman out a year after it was launched. "That channel has become totally distorted," he said. (Following Coleman’s appearance, current Weather Channel chief David Kenny appeared on the program to reiterate the channel’s position that climate change is a principal source of concern.) Later, in an email to followers, Coleman said that he had "jumped into straight, strong, nonstop talk that left the host wondering what had hit him."