Editor of consistently sceptic Express stepping down
Image - Express_combined (note)
Peter Hill is stepping down as editor of the Daily Express – the last remaining British newspaper with an overtly climate sceptic line.
The Express bills itself as “the world’s greatest newspaper” and sells more at 623,689 copies a day than the Guardian and the Independent combined (439,821) – although significantly less than the Daily Mail at two million.
So how can Hill’s editorship be judged on the issue of climate change – and will his departure change the tone of its reporting?
The newspaper’s position on climate change has caused controversy on several occasions – for example when it published Climate Change Lies Exposed in August 2010 and 100 Reasons Why Global Warming is Natural the previous December.
The first story was based on a review of the IPCC’s internal procedures conducted by the InterAcademy Council (IAC), which is made up of the Royal Society and its counterpart science academies around the world.
The review was critical of some aspects of the IPCC processes but concluded that “the IPCC assessment process has been successful overall and has served society well”. It stated that “climate change is a long-term challenge that will require every nation to make decisions about how to respond.”
However, the Daily Express spun this into the heading “climate change lies”. Readers could be forgiven for thinking that the science of climate change had been debunked by the report.
This misrepresentation is worthy of a Press Complaints Commission complaint; however the Express has withdrawn from the PCC, so that is no longer an option.
100 Reasons Why Global Warming is Natural included the claims that: “The argument that climate change is a result of global warming caused by human activity is the argument of flat Earthers” and “There is no scientific or statistical evidence whatsoever that global warming will cause more storms and other weather extremes.”
Later the same day the New Scientist published a rapid-rebuttal of the first 50 claims the newspaper printed.
So throughout Hill’s editorship the Express has remained firmly sceptical of climate science even whilst the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph have wavered from outright scepticism to straight reporting of scientific developments .
Anyone holding out for a dramatic turnaround in reporting at the Daily Express would probably be disappointed to hear that Hill is being replaced by his long time deputy Hugh Whittow.