Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Incredibly biased: Fox News, global warming, and right-wing propaganda

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Here's some unintentional hilarity from Fox News:

Scientists skeptical of the assertion that climate change is the result of man's activites are criticizing a recent Associated Press report on global warming, calling it "irrational hysteria," "horrifically bad" and "incredibly biased."

Where the hilarity? Well, these so-called "scientists" -- the Fox article refers to (and quotes) a grand total of three of them (because the deniers are a tiny fraction) -- are only calling the report hysterical, bad, and biased because it reflects the general consensus of real climate-change experts instead of their widely-repudiated, reality-denying, ideology-driven beliefs.

As the AP put it to Fox by e-mail, "It’s a news story, based on fact and the clearly expressed views of President-elect Barack Obama and others." That's a gross understatement. It's not just based on fact, it's based on a broad consensus within the scientific community.

One of the scientists, feeding the Fox machine, called the report "not fair and balanced." Actually, what's not fair and balanced, as usual, is Fox News, which reports on this non-story of the objections of a few global warming deniers like it's evidence of significant disagreement in the scientific community and like the deniers themselves are irrefutable authorities on the matter. It's not a news article, it's -- as you might expect -- propaganda. The deniers' views are not questioned at all, there are no opposing views presented (other than the one line from the AP, which is quickly ignored), and, in the end, the article only serves to reinforce the widely-repudiated, reality-denying, ideology-driven lies of the deniers and their allies on the right.

Much as you might expect from Fox News -- unfair, unbalanced, and hilarious, in a dark and disturbing way, in its approach to the truth.

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4 Comments:

  • "It's not just based on fact, it's based on a broad consensus within the scientific community."

    You are aware that "fact" and "broad consensus" are not the same thing? There was once a "broad consensus" that the earth was flat, and the sun revolved around the earth. Yet, it is clear today that those were not, in fact, facts. Don't let your feelings about Fox get in the way of the obvious bad reporting by AP.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:03 AM  

  • Yes, I am aware. In this case, the "facts" are based largely on complex computer models, as I'm sure you know. Consensus comes into it because there has been some disagreement over those models. There is consensus that the models are fairly accurate and that the evidence points to man-made global warming.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 10:32 AM  

  • In the 70's, we were on our way to another Ice Age. The only propaganda being fed to the public is through CNN, AP, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. The purpose of those news outlets is to advance their liberal cause.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:44 PM  

  • There are 43 scientific bodies of national and international standing who state there is global warming and human activities have had some cause. There is no scientific body of national/international standing that denies it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:37 PM  

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