Mainstream media takes a shot at Sen. Jim Inhofe while announcing his death

Multiple mainstream media outlets led off their coverage of the death of Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) by criticizing him over his stance on climate change.

Whether in the headline or in the lede, the news outlets made sure to let their readers know where Inhofe stood on the issue despite being in Congress for over 30 years. Inhofe passed away following a stroke after the Independence Day weekend. Inhofe retired from the Senate in early 2023.

'Who once brought a snowball onto the Senate floor as a brazen symbol of his denial of climate change.'

"GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, known for backing military and denying that climate change is human-made, dies at 89," the Associated Press reported.

"Former Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a climate change denier and ex-Armed Services Committee chairman, dies at 89," was CNN's post on X.

The New York Times labeled Inhofe as "arguably Washington’s most prominent denier of climate change."

"Former Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who once brought a snowball onto the Senate floor as a brazen symbol of his denial of climate change, died on Tuesday," Politico reported. Much of Politico's report was about Inhofe's stance on climate change despite also being the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"But in a February 2015 stunt he brought a snowball onto the Senate floor to argue that human activity does not cause climate change. A wide swath of experts quickly pushed back, arguing that just because it snows sometimes in Washington, D.C., doesn’t mean human carbon emissions aren’t rapidly warming the climate," Politico recounted.

The media's framing of Inhofe's death prompted users on X to compare how the same outlets covered the deaths of other, more controversial figures in the Senate and around the world.

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