Peter Sissons attacks the BBC’s climate ‘propaganda’
The news presenter Peter Sissons yesterday criticised the BBC for its “political correctness” and reporting of global warming in the pages of the Daily Mail. His article is headlined “the BBC became a propaganda machine for climate change zealotsâ?¦ and I was treated as a lunatic for daring to dissent”.
The ex news anchor argues that the basic journalistic practice of “balance” had not been adhered to in the BBC’s treatment of global warming, saying “we have an obligation to report both sides of a story”.
In 2004 Professor Naomi Oreskes of the University of California famously analysed 928 abstracts published in peer review journals in the ten years to 2003 that contained the words “global climate change”. She found that more than 75 percent of the papers supported the consensus view on climate change and none directly challenged the hypothesis.
If the BBC were to reflect reputable scientific opinion, you could argue that three quarters of all mentions of climate change on the BBC should support the scientific consensus – and for every 928 expert quoted none should argue against the basic science of climate change.
The article also includes Sissons claiming that global temperatures appeared to “level off or fall slightly after 1998”. Whilst the rate of global warming has slowed slightly over the last decade, global warming hasn’t stopped and the planet hasn’t cooled off.
The latest data shows that 2010 was the joint hottest year since thermometers were invented, tied with 2005 and 1998. This was despite the planet being cooled over the past year by a La Nina event.
Scientific predictions about how the world is warming predicts that warming will slow down and speed up, with pauses and drops in temperatures not ruled out by the longer warming trend. The Met Office is currently predicting that 2011 will be a cooler year as a result of La Nina. Unfortunately, this will not mean that climate change or global warming has stopped.
Sissons new autobiography “When One Door Closes” is being published by climate sceptic and failed Parliamentary hopeful Ian Dale, and will apparently attack a BBC culture in which reporters who make mistakes no longer get a “b*****king”.