date: Thu Sep 11 10:53:46 2003
from: Tim Osborn <t.osborn@uea.ac.uk>
subject: FW: Media coverage of the recent heatwave
to: cru.all@uea

   Dear cru.all@uea
   you might be interested in signing up to the letter below.  I'm not sure of the originator
   (i.e. writer) of the letter, just gives an Oxford address.  Personally I agree with some of
   the content but don't think it is worded carefully enough in places.  Maybe you feel
   differently!
   Tim

     From: "Laura Middleton" <Laura.Middleton@uea.ac.uk>
     To: <tyn.hq@uea.ac.uk>
     You may or may not wish to respond to this.
     Laura
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Laura Middleton
     Scientific Assistant
     The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
     -----Original Message-----
     From: David Cromwell [[1]mailto:ddc@soc.soton.ac.uk]
     To: laura.middleton@uea.ac.uk

          Please consider signing the following letter and perhaps sending round Tyndall
          Centre colleagues.
          N.B. Do NOT reply to this email to sign up. Please email info@risingtide.org.uk as
          instructed below.
          David Cromwell
          James Rennell Division for Ocean Circulation and Climate
          Southampton Oceanography Centre

          RISING TIDE SIGN ON LETTER TO PROTEST MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE HEATWAVE
          *****************************************************************************
          Dear Friend,
          The news media's reporting of the heatwave was a disgrace, especially the coverage
          given to the climate change deniers. And it is dangerous. Ask around and you'll soon
          find that most people have absorbed the message that everything is going to get
          better in a greenhouse world.
          This is a chance to challenge the underlying editorial values. Please SIGN this
          letter and  distribute it on your own lists as far and wide as possible.
          Note the deadline of 12th September
          This letter will be sent to the news editors of all the national newspapers, the
          national evening television news, the main national radio news programmes, audience
          complaints programmes, and the Press Complaints Authority. In each case it will be
          personally addressed to the main contact. We will also use it to try to stimulate a
          wider debate about how climate change is being covered in the UK.
          TO SIGN THIS LETTER REPLY TO INFO@RISINGTIDE.ORG.UK AND PUT YOUR NAME IN THE SUBJECT
          LINE.  PLEASE RESPOND BY FRIDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER.
          If you are signing on behalf of an organisation, or wish to give a few words about
          yourself such as your occupation or qualifications add the details to the top of the
          reply. We will keep your e-mail details confidential, pass them to no one, and will
          only write back to you to tell you about any response we receive.
          ************************************************************************************
          ************
          SIGN ON LETTER TO CHALLENGE THE UK MEDIA ON ITS COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE DURING
          THE RECENT HEAT WAVE
          Dear Sir or Madam
          We the undersigned individuals and groups are writing to you to express our deep
          concern and frustration over the recent coverage given to the August heat wave in
          the UK news media.
          The news media failed to truthfully report the heat wave in two important respects:
          it failed to accurately reflect the overwhelming consensus of the two thousand
          scientists involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the
          endorsement they receive from governments and major scientific institutions.
          Secondly it
          failed to report the heat wave with value free objectivity.
          In the first case, newspapers and television regularly reported climate change as an
          unresolved debate between experts. Prominent and uncritical coverage was given to
          the tiny handful of confident self promoting contrarians who defy the scientific
          consensus. In the Times (August 8th) Philip Stott, who claims I do not believe in
          climate
          changewas allowed a leader column to argue that global warming has morphed into an
          ancient style religion. Bjorn Lomborg was set up in debate formats on both
          Channel Four evening news and the Radio 4 Today Programme to argue that climate
          change is an exaggerated problem that is too expensive to counter.
          On the 10th August, when temperatures rose far above previous records, the BBC
          evening news introduced the news item as the climate debate. It carried an interview
          with a so-called climate skeptic, Piers Corbyn saying it has nothing to do with
          global warming- it is correlated with particles from the sun. It was irresponsible
          and
          unprofessional to give such uncritical legitimacy to Corbyn, who has no scientific
          credibility and refuses to subject his eccentric climatic theories to peer review.
          On ITV
          viewers heard the reporter signing off with the words- if and when we see these
          scenes again will depend on whether it is down to global warming or just fluke.

          Yet, if the public was being left in doubt as to whether climate change existed,
          they were left in no such doubt that higher temperatures were an altogether
          desireable
          outcome. Smiling presenters made live link ups to reporters eating ice cream at the
          sea side. They  spoke of the excellent weather, basking in sunshineand
          presented forecasts of continuing heat as more good news. The newspapers were
          similarly awash with bikinis, cheering holidaymakers and news of record grape
          harvests. Even the Guardian, which had otherwise faithfully reported climate change,
          called on readers to rejoice(Editorial 11th August).
          This reporting of national celebration was biased and value-driven. It allowed no
          consideration of the extreme discomfort and danger such extreme temperatures posed
          to
          the sick and old. We now know that there were over 900 additional deaths in Britain
          during the week ending 15th August. In France the heat wave killed at least 13,000
          people. In a wider context climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of
          millions of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people.
          What is more, this coverage allowed a space for contrarians to promote the
          pernicious argument that climate change will be beneficial. Bjorn Lomborg argued
          that
          warmer winters would lead to fewer deaths overall. Philip Stott claimed that a
          little warming in the UK can only be a good thing(Times, 8th August). An
          extraordinary
          editorial in the Spectator attacked the mass of hot air generated by the climate
          change lobbyand argued that Britain should not take a lead in international action
          because we would benefit more than anybody from climate change(9th August).
          We are therefore writing to you to express our deep frustration that, after two
          decades of consistent and growing evidence, the news media is still reporting
          climate
          change in this confused and superficial manner. Accurate and consistent reporting is
          all the more important to maintain focus against a problem which is relatively slow
          to develop and does not readily fit short term political and business cycles. We
          fear that yet another important opportunity has been lost to consolidate public
          opinion
          behind a wide ranging and timely response to this crisis.
          Yours sincerely,





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          St, Oxford OX1 1BG. Web site [2]www.risingtide.org.uk
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