Yes, grant money is always a factor. Also, you can't trust reporting by the media for three reasons. First, of course, is their bias...they believe warming is occurring and that man is the cause. Second, they are woefully incompetent when trying to either understand science or to relay the information in a way that is both accessible to the layperson but still accurate. Third, very often, when they report on a study, they have only read the abstract or summary of the article. What is in that abstract is often more forceful or unequivocal than what you would find in the paper's discussion.
Well said.....perhaps I picked on the wrong "Academia"...LOL.