Drudge and Pravda: State-Owned Media Aligning Coverage
Whoever expected to see Matt Drudge promoting Pravda (Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age) as a favored and credible news source?
Of course, (sarcasm alert!) Pravda's carefully considered and even-handed statesmanship (Obama: Deceiver, Cheat, Swindler, Liar, Fraudster, Con Artist) works well with the Drudge style, regardless that the Russian government's official mouthpiece is better known for wishful thinking (Russia to retrieve its status of world's strongest superpower) than believable reporting.
This, apparently, is the standard to which climate change denial has slipped.
Hat-tip to Crawford Kilian, and generally to commenters who, three days running, have provided links to stories that are worthy of their own DSB headline. Thanks all. Nice to have the comments back on line and especially nice to have people offering information rather than invective.
Can you discuss the topic, rather than just attack the source?
Richard Lattimore criticizes Pravda for its origin as a propaganda vehicle for the former Soviet Union, but in Russia today Pravda must seek advertizers for its funding and publish articles that attract readers, just like any other commercial news outlet.
'chris' and 'chemurgyguy' make ad hominem attacks against the author of Pravda's "Earth on the Brink of the Ice Age" rather than discussing the science.
When I was at Clackamas Community College, I recieved perfect scores in Biology and in Anatomy & Physiology. The Science Department head said that the science faculty had never seen a student perform as well as me, and they hired me to assistant teach A & P for the remainder of my stay at the college. The Science Dept head told me that it was a waste for me to become a nurse because I would make a great scientist.
Most proponents of the CO2-caused Anthropogenic Global Warming theory accept Al Gore as a valid spokesperson for their theory. In the article below you will learn that Al Gore was a mediocre student in college, where "Gore's lowest grade of D came in a natural sciences course," although Gore did earn an A in "Visual and Environmental Studies." Gore did not major or minor in any form of science.
http://www.insidepolitics.org/heard/heard32300.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A37397-2000Mar18
Al Gore has considerably less training or qualification as a scientist than I do, yet Gore is accepted as a valid spokesperson for the theory of CO2-caused Anthropogenic Global Warming.
Contrary to the claim made by many advocates of the theory of CO2-caused AGW, most of the major AGW-sceptic websites are run on a shoestring by professional and retired scientists who happen to be sceptics.
I submit that what should matter to critical thinkers is the content of an argument under discussion, not the training of the speaker or the views that the speaker holds on completely different topics.
There is a reason you're not accepted as a science spokesman
Your article is full of junk science that is why. I wouldn't be advertising the fact that you were a top student in the science department at Clackamas Community College, it will scare away prospective students.
Try reading up on some real science before writing your next article.
Pravda means truth
This I learned at WhiskeyFire.typepad.com. (To which I would link if Drupal recognised Firefox or vice versa) And I'm still laughing.
Pravda also has the truth about aliens and seamonsters, if you're interested. But the capper for me is that Gregory F. Fegel, author of the ice age article, is also a "9/11 truther".
How very...sciency.
Gregory Fegel
Fegel is also an American, living in Portland, Oregon. who formerly worked as a registered nurse. At one website, he lists his academic background as "Clackamas Community College."
These are facts that Drudge---as well as Noel Sheppard, who made a big deal of the Pravda article at the ultra-right-wing site NewsBusters---could have easily determined with a little Google searching. And in the process, they would have learned that Fegel's controversial 9-11 stance is just the beginning. He has also expressed a variety of social and political viewpoints that would draw the derision of a Drudge or a Sheppard---to put it mildly!
But all that fact-checking would be just too much trouble for right-wing deniers. So much better to assume that a big important newspaper has a staff writer who knows what he's talking about.