Last week, Slate columnist Ron Rosenbaum criticized the July/August issue of Columbia Journalism Review for what he perceived as an ironic contradiction between our editorial and a feature about the future of climate-change coverage.
Rosenbaum praised the editorial, “Dissent Deficit,” in which we argued that the media, rather than engaging “speech that strays too far from the dangerously narrow borders of our public discourse,” have effectively ignored or marginalized dissent. Rosenbaum then accused us of betraying our own advice a few pages down the road in a long article by veteran science reporter Cristine Russell. According to his column:
[O]ur CJR author appears to believe that the green consensus, the anthropogenic theory of global warming, has some special need to be protected from doubters and dissenters, and that reporters who don’t do their job to insulate it are not being “helpful.” When faced with dissent from the sacrosanct green consensus, the author, as we’ll see, argues that the “helpful” reporter must always show the dissenters are wrong if they are to be given any attention at all.
That’s not what we were suggesting. In fact, the article doesn’t use the words ‘dissent,’ ‘protect,’ or ‘insulate’ at all. To be clear: Journalism should be founded on a sacrosanct respect for free speech, and it is unethical to dismiss dissenting information or opinion simply because it contradicts an existing idea or thesis. Rosenbaum’s insinuations about CJR’s position seem to result from his misunderstanding of what we mean by “helpful” reporting. Here’ s one of the passages in our article to which he refers:
The era of “equal time” for skeptics who argue that global warming is just a result of natural variation and not human intervention seems to be largely over—except on talk radio, cable, and local television. Last year, a meteorologist at CBS’s Chicago station did a special report entitled “The Truth about Global Warming.” It featured local scientists discussing the hazards of global warming in one segment, well-known national skeptics in another, and ended with a cop-out: “What is the truth about global warming? … It depends on who you talk to.” Not helpful, and not good reporting.
Our problem is with so-called “he-said, she-said” reporting, in which a journalist presents one voice saying, “Humans are warming the globe,” next to another saying, “No, they aren’t,” without any additional context. That is not journalistic “balance.” Real balance values honesty and accuracy. And honestly, journalists have a responsibility to report that the vast majority of the scientific community supports the most fundamental conclusion of climate science — that anthropogenic greenhouse gases are the primary cause of global warming. This should be noted if the question at hand is as simple as that. Many well-trained scientists and science journalists agree that to do otherwise leads to “balance as bias.” There is nothing wrong with a reporter noting that are also many scientists who disagree with the majority, even on this fundamental point. It’s true. But the real question is, is it okay not to mention that minority?
Without having done an official count, it certainly seems that many reporters, at least at print/online publications if not in television, have grown more comfortable with omitting the mention of scientists who think humans are not responsible for global warming. One must realize, however, that climate-science stories have mostly moved beyond that basic question. Governments and industries around the world are operating under the assumption that, even allowing for uncertainty, we ought to at least take small steps to mitigate global warming by shifting to more energy-efficient lives and economies.
Thus, appropriately, many recent climate-related stories concern subjects like carbon capture and storage, battery technology, and cap-and-trade schemes. Where energy isn’t concerned, it’s the potential impacts of global warming that most people want to know about—what’s happening with hurricanes, ocean acidification, floods, droughts, health and species, polar ice and sea level rise? Where such questions are the focus of the new story, it’s absolutely reasonable for the reporter not to belabor the basic question about humans causing global warming.
Journalism is not about quashing dissent, but nor is it about providing “equal time” to every Tom, Dick, and Contrary Theory simply because they exist. Journalistic “balance” is not physical balance, with two equal masses on each side of a fulcrum.
Hmm, I'll remember this the next time I read a mainstream journalism piece on the safety of nuclear power. No doubt Curtis Brainard, the watchdog of “science journalism”, will be all over that.
Posted by TDC on Thu 14 Aug 2008 at 01:07 PM
Re Curtis's disparaging the call to cover the denial industry - would it make any sense to write about the "safety of smoking" question without exploring Big Tobacco's disinformation efforts? To me it's a no-brainer, that to enlighten the public, you need to expose massive PR efforts to confuse them. If you don't agree, please watch the latest (UCSD provost and historian of science) Naomi Oreskes talk on this subject; pay particular attention to her description of the (naive) "supply-side" model of public understanding of science.
(p.s. 2 fyis: Rosenbaum is an English Lit major who writes for Pajamas Media, and I'm not the one who contacted Curtis about Exxon.)
Posted by Anna Haynes on Sat 16 Aug 2008 at 01:00 PM
Dear CJR and CB,
I am the “one of the regular commenters on Revkin’s blog” to whom you refer in your piece, Jeff Huggins.
That said, in the way of clarification, you seemed to substantially miss most of my point, a point that should have been clear if you had read my posts on this subject.
The essence of my point is this: If people understand something, i.e., if people “get it”, they are less likely to be confused by any arguments that are indeed nonsensical or are already addressed by the basic explanation, and (importantly) they are more able to decide for themselves in an informed way. In other words, if someone doesn’t “get”, i.e., understand, the basic causal dynamics that most scientists see as causing climate change, even in simple conceptual form, and especially if he/she is totally confused by those dynamics, he/she is without much of an anchor and is much more likely to accept even nonsensical arguments or be pushed around by the winds of ideology, which blow very hard sometimes, as we all know.
On the other hand, if she/he at least understands what most scientists see as causing global warming, then she/he can interpret and consider arguments that the press may cover in its efforts to achieve a genuine and healthy balance of the sort you support.
So, the most central part of my criticism of the press does not concern whether, and to what degree, the press includes only the mainstream view or also includes critiques of that view or dissenting views. I’ll leave it to the press to decide how to achieve genuine “balance” in a way that considers the various points you raise and strives to generate valid information. Instead, my central concern is that the press has failed, fairly miserably, to even explain and illustrate the main view (that is, of the majority of scientific organizations) in a way that the public actually “gets.”
(This failure is fairly clear: Ask 100 people on the street to explain the main dynamics of climate change to you, and see how many can do it, even very roughly?)
Indeed, not so long ago, one of the main writers of The New York Times (whose work I usually enjoy and who expresses much concern about climate change) went on Letterman (I think it was Letterman) and gave an explanation of the dynamics at the root of climate change that was amazingly INaccurate. Thus, that particular newsperson, even after writing long and hard about the problem itself, didn’t really “get it”, apparently. How many writers actually understand, truly, what the mainstream scientific view is? I haven’t seen much evidence that many do!
Also, regarding your point about “nefarious” organizations: Although I don’t like it when certain organizations provide info that they know is not quite right, or when they communicate only a narrowly selective “5%” of a story when they know that’s misleading, I don’t think I ever used the word “nefarious”, nor am I a person who blames The New York Times for the fact that some organizations seem to like to mislead the public. Instead, I criticize The New York Times for two things, as they relate to the present subject: First, that it has failed to clearly explain the view of most scientists in a way the public actually “gets.” And second, that it has failed to do much of any true investigative journalism regarding the partial (meaning, not-the-whole-story) facts and misleading arguments included by ExxonMobil (for example) in huge advertorials in The New York Times itself.
The mainstream of my latter criticism does not dwell on whether ExxonMobil funded, or still funds, some organizations that may or may not spread confusion. Instead, ExxonMobil runs major advertorials in The New York Times itself, and the facts and assertions included in those ads, and the facts not included in those ads, are not even explored and discussed clearly in the newspaper. Oh well, global warming and related energy matters are only the largest issues facing humankind today, and ExxonMobil is only the most profitable company in U.S. history. Why should The New York Times bother to investigate whether ExxonMobil is including all the facts and whether their arguments make any sense whatsoever?
Now, the main question I have, for present purposes, after taking the time to read the column here and to respond, is this: Will you, CJR and CB, actually take the time to read my various posts on the subject, and understand my criticisms, before you characterize them, and will you (ideally) write another column that actually explores and comments on the specific two failures that I highlight above? If so, you’ll have my respect. If not, what do you want me to say?
Also, if you like, you can reach me through Andy Revkin (he has my e-mail address). I would very much enjoy talking to you, CJR or CB, to discuss these matters and how we can help the media cover these pressing issues at a substantially higher level of quality.
Best Regards,
Jeff Huggins
Posted by Jeff Huggins on Sun 17 Aug 2008 at 06:19 PM