Media's Culpability in Global Warming Coverage?

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Charlie
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Media's Culpability in Global Warming Coverage?

Post by Charlie »

Not sure if this has already been discussed in this forum yet, but it seems that in order to blunt charges of one-sided journalism, mainstream media outlets will use a neutral "he said, she said" formula that is not too informative and inadvertently places the two sides as having equal validity. Every time even the phrase GW is used in a sentence by the media without an accompanying asterisk disclaimer of some type, it's labeled as "liberal bias." So with GW, you could have a respected scientist on one side and a denialist on the other side in a 5-minute debate with the undecided audience coming away with the impression that there's some doubt about the validity of GW within the scientific community.

Moreover, the media runs in seconds long sound byte clips and sensationalist narratives to increase ratings. Very rarely do media types possess the relevant background to accurately simplify something as complex and important as GW. Also, with deadlines and the 24 hour news cycle, there seems to be little incentive to perform real investigative journalism.

I think one of the reasons why non-scientists have been able to influence the GW debate as much as actual climate scientists is because denialists are able to do better at exploiting the media's false neutrality ideal to cast doubt and appear to legitimize their position. A sound or coherent argument isn't really needed, just appearance is all that is required. And of course, a lie repeated often enough is bound to be believed by the uninformed audience.

Other thoughts about the media's culpability in misinforming on GW?
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Dardedar
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Re: Media's Culpability in Global Warming Coverage?

Post by Dardedar »

There's a lot on this site about GW, not so much about the media as I remember. I totally agree with you point. I think twice now I have heard Lou Dobb's have two GW deniers one while he fed them softballs. What a joke.

Anyway, as I was just posting on another forum in response to some GW denying nitwit.

***
"A new poll among 3,146 earth scientists found that 90 percent believe global warming is real, while 82 percent agree that human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures.

The survey, conducted among researchers listed in the American Geological Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments*, "found that climatologists who are active in research showed the strongest consensus on the causes of global warming, with 97 percent agreeing humans play a role".

...Doran said wide support among climatologists does not come as a surprise.

"They're the ones who study and publish on climate science. So I guess the take-home message is, the more you know about the field of climate science, the more you're likely to believe in global warming and humankind's contribution to it."

Writing in the publication Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Doran and Zimmerman conclude, "the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes."

LINK

D.
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