Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Fox Strikes Again

Media Matters For America has gotten its hands on another internal Fox memo. This time newscasers are urged to cast doubt on the science behind global warming:

...we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies.
The memo, from Bill Sammon came moments after a Fox News reporter, discussing the so-called climategate incident, had noted that the data that provides evidence of global warming was consistent across various sources beyond the beseiged Climatic Research Unit of East Anglia University, including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This, apparently was alarming to Sammon, since an appeal to respected scientific authorities on the subject does tend to undermine the mercenary criticisms of paid Oil Industry shills and lobbyists.

There is a big difference between "asserting notions as facts" and manufacturing controversy where there really is none. What Fox seeks to do, with respect to the issue of global warming, is clearly the latter, and their motivations are indisputably ideological ones.

2 comments:

The Sardonicist said...

I've brought this up a billion times, and it always bears repeating; conservatives don't believe reams of scientific data regarding global warming, but will buy into the idea someone was born in a manger and attended by three kings who found him by following a star, turned water into wine, walked on water, and rose from the dead after three days all because it said so in a series of disjointed (sometimes contradictory) books collectively known as the Bible.

It boggles the mind....

Patriot's Quill said...

It would seem taht standards of proof vary for GOPers depending on the subject matter, would it not?