Newspaper Biased Against Climate Change
Australasian Science, 2011
Author,
Ian Lowe, a Professor of science, technology and society at Griffith University
discusses the anti-climate bias inherently present in News Ltd’s reporting,
particular in Australia’s national newspaper. Lowe presents examples of selective journalism and the propagation
of unsubstantiated scientific claims used by The Australian to construct a seemingly plausible case against the
existence of climate change. He
goes even further to point out that not only are the columnists in The Australian heavily opinionated in
the manner they present climate issues, but that these opinions are allowed to
dictate which stories are ‘newsworthy’ enough to print. Lowe reveals that a recent analysis of
the newspaper has revealed that there is a ratio of about four anti-climate
action articles printed for every one pro-climate action. This, he points out, is in no way a
balanced presentation of this issue, given that around 97% of the world’s
climate scientists believe that rapid climate change, caused by human activity,
is a huge threat to humanity. According to Lowe, The Australian’s obvious bias toward climate deniers is a clear
breach of the AJA Code of Ethics, requiring journalists to report fairly on
controversial issues.
Climate Claims Fail Test
The Australian, 2009
Professor
Michael Asten wrote a feature article for The
Australian during the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Council Summit on the
‘inconclusive’ nature of supposed climate science. In an attempt to discredit climate scientists, Asten
asserted that because the chairperson of the Copenhagen Climate Council, Tim
Flannery, had stated that scientist couldn’t possibly have perfect knowledge on
the issue, therefore the science was not proven. Although Asten is a reputable source in the field of geosciences,
he had never published anything to do with climate science prior to this
article. After complaints were
made as to the accuracy of his assertions, it was later revealed that Asten had
close links with the mining and coal industries in Australia, however The Australian never responded to this
criticism. Asten used findings in the prominent science journal Nature, to substantiate his claims that
there was no certain link between CO2 and global warming. Even when the actual authors of this
journal article complained at the misrepresentation of their research, The Australian did not retract any of
the statements. The newspaper used
its powerful position within society to allow an unqualified and false account
of this important issue to be presented to the Australian public in a way that
implied Asten was a reputable scientific source, when in reality, he was an
opinionated vested interest.
Balancing A Hot Debate
Media Watch, 2011
ABC’s
Media Watch presented a short
television segment discussing the climate denial bias present in Fairfax Media
radio station’s talkback programs throughout Australia. Presenter, Jonathon Holmes offered
copious examples of prominent radio presenters using completely false
scientific figures and presenting heavily opinionated views as fact. For example, 2GB Sydney’s breakfast show presenter, Alan Jones, was quoted
stating that, “Human beings produce .001%
of the carbon dioxide in the air…” [i] In
reality, it is widely accepted that humans produce around 30% of CO2 in the
atmosphere, a finding that completely discredits Jones’ statement, although is
never retracted or amended by the Fairfax station. Journalists such as those at Media Watch, who question the credibility of the claims surrounding
controversial issues, are crucial in providing a fair and balanced argument to
society. The Media Watch report revealed that in most major talkback shows in
the capital cities around Australia, there was a much higher proportion of
climate sceptics than not. Given
that Fairfax own most of these radio stations, it would appear that there is a
strong anti-climate bias across most of the Australian media outlets.
Green Left Climate Change Bias Easy as ABC
The Australian, 2012
A
recent opinion article in The Australian
openly attacks the integrity of the ABC and tries to recover some of the
credibility supposedly denied them by the public station’s,
‘greenie-left-wing-bias’ reporters.
James Delingpole is a climate sceptic and author of the book, Killing The Earth To Save It, who claims
that the ABC treats climate sceptics with as much disdain as ‘Nazis’ or
‘kiddie-fiddlers’. Delingpole is
outraged at being told by various presenters he meets at ABC stations that he
is only being interviewed in the interest of presenting both sides of the
argument. While this may be a
shock to Delingpole, it seems unreasonable that he expects that the vastly
outnumbered opinions of climate sceptics should receive equal weighting with
climate scientists, despite the fact sceptics make up less than 3% of the
opinion spectrum. He then goes
even further to applaud the beliefs and attitudes of Sydney radio host, Alan
Jones, adding that at least if Australians did not like his opinion, they
weren’t paying for it through taxes.
Although it is true that the ABC is publicly funded, by the very fact
that Delingpole receives airtime suggests that despite personal bias,
journalists at the ABC do present both sides of the argument. While in
contrast, The Australian sees fit to
give Delingpole’s own bias and opinionated rant national coverage without any consideration
of the potential misrepresentation of the ABC.
[i] 2GB
Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 15th March, 2011
