Neil Winton
Climate change reporting
Thursday 04 December 2008
Just wondering if former colleagues might have some views on this story just appearing on my website, which criticises Reuters for following the conventional wisdom on climate change reporting, and failing to provide its traditional balance and fairness – http://www.wintonsworld.com/news/opinionconstructs/opinionframeset.html
Global Warming – Governments, Media Close Down Debate
Politicians Like Obama, Media Leaders Reuters, BBC Apparently Agree
If CO2 Cuts Are Forced, Climate Won’t Change, But Economies Will
Yet Science Isn’t Complete; CO2 Link With Climate Not Proven
Even If It Was, Lomborg Says Cutting CO2 Ineffective, Wasteful
“Is the media corrupt, dumb, lazy, or seeking a quiet life?”
I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but maybe I should. After all, governments and politicians around the world seem united in saying CO2 emissions by humans are warming the climate and unless action is taken soon, we will all drown or fry.
And yet any rational, sane or fair person examining the evidence linking humans to climate change would be amazed by the thinness, the inconclusiveness, of the evidence. Reporters like me, who as Reuters’ Science and Technology Correspondent in the 1990s had access to the world’s most impressive climate scientists, know that the balance of evidence points to there being no link between climate change and human activity.
Despite this, the politicians’ zeal to save us gains momentum. President-elect Barack Obama said reducing greenhouse gas emissions will remain a central plank of his new administration’s policy.
“Few challenges facing America – and the world – are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season,” Obama said, in a video shown to delegates at a climate conference in Poznan, Poland.
But this isn’t true. – (rest appears on website)
Any comments?
Neil Winton
Global Warming – Governments, Media Close Down Debate
Politicians Like Obama, Media Leaders Reuters, BBC Apparently Agree
If CO2 Cuts Are Forced, Climate Won’t Change, But Economies Will
Yet Science Isn’t Complete; CO2 Link With Climate Not Proven
Even If It Was, Lomborg Says Cutting CO2 Ineffective, Wasteful
“Is the media corrupt, dumb, lazy, or seeking a quiet life?”
I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but maybe I should. After all, governments and politicians around the world seem united in saying CO2 emissions by humans are warming the climate and unless action is taken soon, we will all drown or fry.
And yet any rational, sane or fair person examining the evidence linking humans to climate change would be amazed by the thinness, the inconclusiveness, of the evidence. Reporters like me, who as Reuters’ Science and Technology Correspondent in the 1990s had access to the world’s most impressive climate scientists, know that the balance of evidence points to there being no link between climate change and human activity.
Despite this, the politicians’ zeal to save us gains momentum. President-elect Barack Obama said reducing greenhouse gas emissions will remain a central plank of his new administration’s policy.
“Few challenges facing America – and the world – are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season,” Obama said, in a video shown to delegates at a climate conference in Poznan, Poland.
But this isn’t true. – (rest appears on website)
Any comments?
Neil Winton
