Bishop Hill Protecting scientists
Mar 23, 2014 28Gate BBC Climate: Sceptics
In his Mail on Sunday article today (keep scrolling) David Rose reveals that the BBC - at least in Scotland - has a new policy of protecting climatologists from challenge on air.
A BBC executive in charge of editorial standards has ordered programme editors not to broadcast debates between climate scientists and global warming sceptics.
Alasdair MacLeod claimed that such discussions amount to ‘false balance’ and breach an undertaking to the Corporation’s watchdog, the BBC Trust.
Mr MacLeod, head of editorial standards and compliance for BBC Scotland, sent an email on February 27 to 18 senior producers and editors, which has been obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
It reads: ‘When covering climate change stories, we should not run debates / discussions directly between scientists and sceptics.
If dissenters from the climate consensus are not to be allowed to put their case directly, there is presumably little point in having those arguments put by BBC interviewers. So from now on the pronouncements of climatologists will be treated as holy writ and the most alarmist scientists can be allowed to scaremonger without fear of contradiction. The consensus over the existence of the greenhouse effect is used as a pretence that all aspects of the climatology are beyond debate.
Coming so soon after the brouhaha over the Lawson/Hoskins discussion on the Today programme, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the BBC are dancing to the tune of the environmental movement. The effects of the 28gate seminar seem to live on.
The end of the licence fee cannot come soon enough.
Reader Comments (60)
@Eli Rabett
you'll be voting for Bez then?
@silly Rabett Twain also advised not to argue with people that purchase ink by the barrel but with the CAGW story the way it is even Global Warmists can see that it is just a pig with lipstick in last Spring's dress.
The silly rabitt forgot Twain's quote: "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect"...
Clearly this is a sign of desperation.
First we had the 'pause' inconveniently nixing the threat of imminent catastrophe, and now we have the likes of the GWPF agreeing that AGW is happening to some extent in published papers, which of course spoils the whole 'denier' meme.
What the alarmists can't risk, is that the public gets to hear that it's all really about how much warming and what to do about it. They simply have to keep that from us else their carefully created edifice will come crumbling down, and with (genuine this time) catastrophic consequences for them.
This way they get to define the debate (and supress it) for a little while longer at least.
From Roughing It, by Mark Twain.
@AWM,
Yes, you hit nail on head. The trolls are focused on a childish and deceptive recitation of of climate basics. Carefully avoiding scale and degree and context.
The media is basically trolling the topic as well, only repeating AGW dogma, ignoring the failures of the dogma, and breathlessly repeating any kooky climate claim by an AGW believer, no matter how transparently baseless.
What does the unspeakable BBC do when the climate scientists is also a sceptic, such as Richard Lintzen?
I think I know.
Define: 'False balance..'
Putin would be proud of BBC Scotland...
Mar 24, 2014 at 2:28 AM Eli Rabett
So what was the name of Mark Twain's blog? How many twitter followers did he have? Taking PR advice from a dead man isn't the best policy.
If you don't debate the questions, they still get heard but others get to speculate about the answers.