Newsbusters

Sun, 2009-06-07 18:40Jeremy Jacquot
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New Study on Solar Variability Is Neither New Nor a Study

Misinterpreting a new study requires there to be a new study in the first place. Though it may seem obvious, this basic truth was evidently lost on the throngs of deniers who pounced on a story about solar variability that appeared on the news aggregator ScienceDaily—on May 12, 2008.

The piece, entitled “Solar Variability: Striking a Balance with Climate Change,” makes the point that, over the course of the Earth’s history, the sun and volcanic eruptions have typically exerted the largest influence on climate change. In recent decades, however, the sun’s influence in particular has been replaced by that of anthropogenic activity—something which Robert Cahalan, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, says “has never happened before.”

Read more: New Study on Solar Variability Is Neither New Nor a Study
Wed, 2008-04-23 10:23Kevin Grandia
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A Short, Sweet Rebuttal to Newsbuster's Swedish Tree Nonsense

Yesterday I wrote a piece outlining the apparently illogical pseudo-science being sold by Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters as justification for doing nothing to solve the crisis of human-induced global warming. 

Shepard tries to make the claim that the discovery of the world's oldest tree by Dr. Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden, somehow brought into question the entire theory of human-caused global warming. 

Presumably, Shepard did not attempt to contact Dr. Kullman before putting in front of his readership the misinformation that he did. I know this because I emailed Dr. Kullman last night to comment on Sheppard's piece and got this concise answer:

I find it quite strange how an old tree can be used in the climate change controversy." 

So will Newsbusters be willing to correct their mistake? Will Sheppard do the responsible thing and print a correction? 

Read more: A Short, Sweet Rebuttal to Newsbuster's Swedish Tree Nonsense
Tue, 2008-04-22 21:18Kevin Grandia
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Newsbusters Makes Fantastical Leaps of Logic on Oldest Living Tree News

It didn't take long for Noel Shepard at Newsbusters to twist a new study on the discovery of the oldest living tree to fit his notion that the world' top scientists have it all wrong when it comes to human-induced climate change.

The study, carried out by a team led by Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science in Sweden, has found the world's oldest tree living in the mountains of Sweden.

Somehow Sheppard has got it in his head that this finding:

[results] in a total rewrite of climate history while bringing into serious question global warming theories espoused by Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his sycophant devotees."

 

Read more: Newsbusters Makes Fantastical Leaps of Logic on Oldest Living Tree News
Fri, 2008-04-11 14:46Page van der Linden
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Getting Cooler? What the World Meteorological Organization Actually Said

For the past week, the breathless buzz on the global warming denier blogs and radio programs has been about a certain BBC News article regarding the temporary cooling effect of El Niña this year.
Read more: Getting Cooler? What the World Meteorological Organization Actually Said
Fri, 2007-07-27 11:35Emily Murgatroyd
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Who's on Thin Ice Here?

What do you do if you are an oil-industry sweetheart of a 'news group' and you need to challenge climate science?

Be smug and use sarcasm of course. Newsbusters.org wrote a criticism within a criticism, taking to task the New York Times' 2 reviews of a new film on global warming's effects on polar bears, called 'Arctic Tale'.

Apparently 2 glowing reviews of the movie in less than a week was enough to get columnist Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters a little hot under the collar.


Read more: Who's on Thin Ice Here?
Wed, 2007-04-11 15:57Kevin Grandia
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Oil-a-palooza, Newsbusters attempts to resurrect the Friends of Science

The "Liberal Media" bashing Newsbusters is complaining today that the American media have ignored the 2005 Climate Catastrophe Cancelled video produced by the "Friends of Science."

Newsbusters asks: "Think you’ll see this video on American television any time soon?"

If it is to appear on American TV, which based on the quality of production and factual inaccuracies I am guessing not, here's a bit more on the Friends of Science and Newsbusters for you to consider. 
Read more: Oil-a-palooza, Newsbusters attempts to resurrect the Friends of Science
Mon, 2006-12-11 10:51Kevin Grandia
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Industry "think" tank cherry-picks to prove point

Here is a great example of spin, this time by the oil-money backed Media Research Centre and it's affiliated group "NewsBusters." The goal of the intrepid team at Newsbusters is to "expose and combat liberal media bias." Well, here's a little bias from News Busters themselves.

According to a recent UK Telegraph story, an upcoming report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will claim that "mankind has less of an affect on global warming than previously supposed." A leading UK climate scientist explains that this downgrade is a refinement simply "due to better data on how the climate works rather than a reduction in the risk posed by global warming."

Far from being the whole story, the Telegraph article goes on to paint a pretty grim picture indeed, but Newsbusters would like us all think something quite different...

Check out ThinkProgress for another take on this. 

Read more: Industry "think" tank cherry-picks to prove point
Wed, 2006-09-27 07:07Richard Littlemore
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Newsbusters Outraged that ABC is Exercising News Judgment

In the tireless (and tiresome) pursuit of "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias, NewBusters touts Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe's speech on the Senate floor Monday (Sept. 25), and then savages ABC's recent coverage of the topic of climate change.

In celebrating the Inhofe speech, NewsBusters picks up this quote:

"The year 2006 saw many major organs of the media dismiss any pretense of balance and objectivity on climate change coverage and instead crossed squarely into global warming advocacy."
Read more: Newsbusters Outraged that ABC is Exercising News Judgment
Mon, 2006-06-26 04:43Ross Gelbspan
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Right Wing Targets ABC's Bill Blakemore for His Mainstream Media Breakthrough

The right-wing outfit "Newsbusters" has targeted ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore for his coverage of climage change.

Blakemore was the first major network correspondent to make the connection between weather extremes and global warming (in his recent segment on the 10-inch flood in Houston and the spreading wildfires several hundred miles away in Arizona. For breaking the long-standing reluctance of the media to make that connection, he deserves GREAT congratulations!
Read more: Right Wing Targets ABC's Bill Blakemore for His Mainstream Media Breakthrough
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