Lies, Damned Lies And The AP

John Hinderaker over at Powerline dissects the subtle way the Associated Press skews and distorts reporting in such a way as to run interference for causes it believes in. When it is taken apart like this, it is easy to see just how skewed the reporting is. Use of loaded terms, subtle denigration and giving the last word to a contrary opinion are all techniques used in advancing what amounts to propaganda for the cause – whatever that cause may be. In this case, support for thee First Church of the Presumptuous Assumption of Global Warming™.

But watch where the story goes from there. First the subtle demeaning of the distinguished Dr. Gray:

Gray, an emeritus professor at the atmospheric science department at Colorado State University, has long railed against the theory that heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are causing the world to warm.

Gray is implicitly depicted as a crank; he "rails." Note that the hysterical and ill-informed Gore never "rails." Further, Gray "has long railed," which suggests that, rather than being a consistent critic of an unproven theory, he is a tiresome eccentric whose views have been heard and discounted. More on this later. The AP continues:

Gray's statements came the same day the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change approved a report that concludes the world will face dire consequences to food and water supplies, along with increased flooding and other dramatic weather events, unless nations adapt to climate change.

As we have noted elsewhere, the U.N.'s IPCC is a political body, not a scientific one, and its findings have been subject to withering criticism. But the AP implies that the U.N's report represents a scientific consensus. Next:

Rather than global warming, Gray believes a recent uptick in strong hurricanes is part of a multi-decade trend of alternating busy and slow periods related to ocean circulation patterns. Contrary to mainstream thinking, Gray believes ocean temperatures are going to drop in the next five to 10 years.

Now it's explicit. The elderly crank who "rails" and disagrees with the U.N. is not part of "mainstream thinking," notwithstanding the fact that, as the AP acknowledges, he is the world's foremost authority on hurricanes.

Now the conclusion: in evaluating media bias, it is always important to see who gets the last word. The AP.

You have a reporter, who very likely has minimal scientific training, denigrating someone who has impeccable credentials. Even if he does have some training, he certainly has nowhere near the expertise of Dr. Gray. This is how propaganda works. There are a lot of real scientists out there who are not on board the "consensus", which is very likely why the true believers want them silenced. The "consensus" incidentally has everything to do with politics and little to do with science.

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  By TC@LeatherPenguin, April 7, 2007 @ 1:16 pm

  One of the things about the Goracle’s dire warnings that always struck me as incredulous was the idea that bacuse of the globe running a temperature, there would be widespread drought.

  Now, if the earth warms up as he claims, and if this causes the polar caps to melt, doesn’t that mean all that freshwater–the polar icecaps almost entirely consists of freshwater–then wouldn’t that same fresh water be converted to vapor, which would rise into the atmosphere and increase cloud cover, which, at least this laymanbelieves, should lead to the Goracle’s prediction of massively increased storm systems dumping more and heavier torrential freshwater rainfalls than the world has ever seen?

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  By feeblemind, April 7, 2007 @ 4:19 pm

  This style of reporting has been around for many years. In the political realm, quotes always come from “conservatives” or from the “extreme right”. Adjectives like “liberal” and “far left” are never put in front of people people being quoted from the Left. As this type of reporting is de rigeur for the Press, I wonder what caused Powerline to pick on this article? I also wonder if the techniques typically used to tilt an article are taught in journalism school or are they picked up later on?

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  By daveinboca, April 7, 2007 @ 11:32 pm

  The current hysteria is a symptom of displacement, a psychological mechanism that allows one to ignore real threats like Islamic terrorism, in order to focus on imaginary phantasms like Anthropogenic Global Warming. Part of the left’s denial of reality, a symptom of a larger mass psychosis infecting much of the American electorate.

Other Links to this Post

1. Maggie's Farm — April 8, 2007 @ 3:30 pm