Newsweek Editor Calls Global Warming Cover Story ‘Fundamentally Misleading’

NewsBusters ^ | August 12, 2007 | Noel Sheppard

[CedarDave]

It appears hell hath frozen over, for a Newsweek contributing editor published an article Saturday extraordinarily critical of his magazine's cover story last week about "global-warming deniers" being funded by oil companies in an organized scam to thwart science.

In fact, Robert J. Samuelson accurately noted how "self-righteous indignation can undermine good journalism," and that this disgraceful article was "an object lesson of how viewing the world as ‘good guys vs. bad guys' can lead to a vast oversimplification of a messy story."

Fortunately, Samuelson was just getting warmed up:

The story was a wonderful read, marred only by its being fundamentally misleading.

NEWSWEEK's "denial machine" is a peripheral and highly contrived story. NEWSWEEK implied, for example, that ExxonMobil used a think tank to pay academics to criticize global-warming science. Actually, this accusation was long ago discredited, and NEWSWEEK shouldn't have lent it respectability. ...

The alleged cabal's influence does not seem impressive. The mainstream media have generally been unsympathetic; they've treated global warming ominously. The first NEWSWEEK cover story in 1988 warned the greenhouse effect. danger: more hot summers ahead. A Time cover in 2006 was more alarmist: be worried, be very worried. Nor does public opinion seem much swayed. Although polls can be found to illustrate almost anything, the longest-running survey questions show a remarkable consistency....

Shocking. But, Samuelson wasn't finished:

But the overriding reality seems almost un-American: we simply don't have a solution for this problem. As we debate it, journalists should resist the temptation to portray global warming as a morality tale-as NEWSWEEK did-in which anyone who questions its gravity or proposed solutions may be ridiculed as a fool, a crank or an industry stooge. Dissent is, or should be, the lifeblood of a free society.

Bravo, Robert! Bravo!

[DoughtyOne]

Wow. It almost looks as if this guy realized there could be something that might be even worse than global warming, namely unbridled facism.

[singfreedom]

My thoughts exactly. Where has this guy been? He acts as if this is the first time Newsweek has screwed up? Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it Newsweek that did the Koran/Toilet Flush story? Like I said, as long as he’s apologizing......

[muir_redwoods]

The earth is warming. There used to be 2 miles of ice over Central Park. We used to be in an ice age and now we are not. There will probably be another ice age some day and then another warming.The vagaries of temperature in the last few decades means very little. Even measured on that scale, the alarmists have no answer as to why Mars is warming too.

Here's a hint, it's the sun

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off

Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown

New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH

Ping me if you find one I've missed.

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[SueRae]

Thank you for compiling this comprehensive list. *ping*

[Thermalseeker]

Even though the news media has totally ignored recent findings that 1934 is the hottest year in the last 107 years, the word is out there, creeping around, shaking the foundations of the Religion of AGW.

I'm sure you know it goes way, way beyond this news. Add to this the recent revelation about how many NOAA weather stations were improperly located near heat sources such as trash burning barrels and chimneys, plus, the recent report that stated after the former USSR shut down, many of their weather observation stations were abandoned, including many in Siberia and other cold places, which skewed the overall temperature numbers up. Add to that a host of other lies, half truths and down right speculation that has been thrust on the general public and even the casual observer is now questioning the "experts". Oh, and don't forget the comedic value of several scheduled "globull warming" events where freak snowstorms ruled the day.

It's time for popcorn. This ship is sinking and sinking fast.....

[Eagles6]

save

[ontap]

Don’t hold your breath,you’re more likely to get an apology from Dan Rather.

[ontap]

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

[cookcounty]

And add: the now discredited “9 hottest years” tripe pedaled by Gore and his PhD-besotted “scientist” Dr. Hansen, who it turns out, understands less about the scientififc method than the average 8th grader.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I don’t think the issue here is about individual year or a season, but the trend. There is no denying that climate is warming up significantly in the recent decades.

No - Not true.

The temperatures HAVE gone up - but by LESS than 1 degree C in 35 years.

A 3/4 degree rise is measurable, but it is NOT “significant” since 4 times in the past 400,000 years temperatures were 3.5 degrees hotter than now. We are at or near the peak of this 100,000 year cycle, and the next Ice Age is about 2000 years overdue.

[longtermmemmory]

The man in charge of the hottest year data not only forgot about the alleged y2k bug, he was in charge of the sensors AND now we have found out thanks to wayback.com that the data was manipulated twice AND Hansen was a consultant (alleged) for “inconvenient truth” AND he wrote reviews on the movie for the NYT.

It is a COVER UP SCANDAL.

(climate-gate for the left to get it in least common denominator wording)

[Rb ver. 2.0]

“As I just noted, the Urban Heat Island Effect is considered to be a non-factor by the IPCC. That really, really, really surprised me.”

That’s because certified weather stations are sited in locations away from heat sinks and external factors that could affect natural readings.

http://new.wavlist.com/tv/010/nyuk.wav

[longtermmemmory]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880279/posts

This has three references over the nasa scientist who altered the climate data to show a solitary trent rather than the self evident cycle.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

The story was a wonderful read, marred only by its being fundamentally misleading.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

[Cuttnhorse]

Thanks for posting the bibliography of articles...good ammunition to have on hand.

[SteamShovel]

after the former USSR shut down, many of their weather observation stations were abandoned, including many in Siberia and other cold places, which skewed the overall temperature numbers up.

This is one example of why I do not believe in the validity of a "global average temperature". Step changes like this one are big sway factors in the average. Gradually putting temperature stations nearer and nearer to cities and pavement cause artificial upward trends in the data.

If they were being totally honest and scientific, trends like the hockey stick would have numbered asterisks with notes like "USSR weather data stops" etc, every time it is published. To me, this says "Yes, they are hiding these skew factors" because they do point out things that cause the data to change if it supports their theory that man is changing the "global average climate".

[USS Alaska]

The cause.

[riverdawg]

“... temperatures HAVE gone up ... by less than 1 degree C in 35 years.”

I laughed when I read in the Sunday edition of the local rag that average temperatures in the Southeastern US have risen 1.3 degrees F over the period 1971-2006. As anyone old enough will remember, the 1970’s were a mini Ice Age in much of the US. In 1977-78, for example, Charlottesville, VA iced over after an October snowfall and didn’t thaw out until March. You can choose the “right” sample period from the past 100 or so years to make either a global cooling or global warming argument. As an earlier poster noted, climate change = weather.

[OSHA]

There used to be 2 miles of ice over Central Park. We used to be in an ice age and now we are not. There will probably be another ice age some day

In 150 to 200 thousand years according to the chart below. We may be on the near verge of starting to cool.