Thursday, June 23, 2011

Main Stream Media Should Be More Honest About Global Warming

In past posts about global warming, or climate change as some now call it, I have freely admitted that I am still not sure who to believe about the issue.  I have written repeatedly about the well-qualified scientists who have spoken out on all sides of the issue.  My primary complaint, however, is that the main stream media seems so wedded to promoting the idea that global warming is a certainty that they have not reported most of the contrary information being written by scientists with great credentials.

Just a few days ago, I wrote about a British article that indicates a group of so-called “heavyweight” US solar physicists say the Sun may be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity.  Because of this observation, these scientists are predicting that the earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age.  I have yet to see this reported by CBS, NBC or ABC.  I don’t have time to watch every news broadcast, but when I Google this information, I see no connection to a report from a mainstream media outlet in the United States

Now comes word that one of the leading scientific advocates of global warming, Dr. James Hansen of NASA, is being sued for profiting privately for his advocacy while still working for NASA, which is a violation of Federal policy.  Have you heard about the suit?  Well, if you look on the Internet long enough, you actually may find a story or two.

As you may recall, Al Gore, the godfather of global warming, has often said that any scientists who disagree with him have been compromised by money from carbon-based fuel companies, like oil companies and coal companies.  If you use the same standard Gore uses, hasn’t Dr. Hansen been compromised by the money he has received from environmental groups.

I don’t believe that this revelation automatically discredits Dr. Hansen’s research and conclusions, but it does put his advocacy into question.  What I want to know is where is the news coverage of this disclosure?

If we truly had journalists and communicators instead of media lapdogs and a never-ending parade of advocacy spin doctors, we could examine all the theories and educated guesses that are being made about global warming without setting up the advocates for condemnation if they happen to guess wrong.  Yes, there is a lot of research and other type of funding involved on both sides of the issues, but that does not automatically make the advocates deceptive and evil people.

Since I can’t read minds and hearts, I would like to suggest that we have many well-educated, highly experienced scientific experts who disagree, and only time will tell if they are guessing right or wrong.  Are some of them being co-opted by large sums of money?  Maybe, some are. Unfortunately, we do not, in my estimation, have the type of journalists in the media who will be open to examining all the new data and documentation as well as all the scientists releasing such information and treating it all equally instead of worrying about which advocacy position is being supported or debunked. 

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