This FP column by Ross McKitrick leaves only one question unanswered…
The expert reports upheld all of our criticisms of the Mann Hockey Stick, both of the mathematics and of its reliance on flawed bristlecone pine data. One of the panels, however, argued that while the Mann Hockey Stick itself was flawed, a series of other studies published since 1998 had similar shapes, thus providing support for the view that the late 20th century is unusually warm. The IPCC also made this argument in its 2007 report. But the second expert panel, led by statistician Edward Wegman, pointed out that the other studies are not independent. They are written by the same small circle of authors, only the names are in different orders, and they reuse the same few data climate proxy series over and over.
Why wasn’t it on the front page?
“It’s all unravelling now.”
I wrote a letter to the CBC about their lack of coverage of the CRU scandal.
Here is the reply I got and my response.
——-Original Message——-
From: Esther Enkin
Date: 02/12/2009 2:32:58 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: CBC Ombudsman
Subject: re: University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit
Fred Mcxxx
freddmc@shaw.ca
Dear Mr. Mcxxx:
Thank you for your e-mail of November 25 addressed to Vince Carlin, CBC Ombudsman. Since CBC News falls in my remit, perhaps I can reply.
You wrote, in substance, to ask why CBC News had not carried a story concerning the thousands of e-mails and documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit that had recently ended up on the Internet.
I suppose the short answer is CBC News did carry the story. On CBC News.ca, it was posted on November 26 under the headline, “Hackers skewed climate-change emails: scientists”. I expect we will be carrying more stories about the stolen documents and the fallout from their publication in the days before the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on December 7.
With the clearer vision afforded by hindsight, we should have noticed the story and picked it up sooner than we did, but its absence is certainly not evidence of partisanship.
To be fair, the story’s significance seemed only gradually to emerge. As I understand it hackers tried to post the stolen e-mails on a scientific website on November 17. By the weekend, climate change skeptics were analyzing and re-posting them, arguing that they demonstrated collusion among climate change researchers in an effort to overstate the case for global warming, a conclusion vigorously disputed by the scientists involved. The growing debate sparked wider attention the following week (I see The New York Times carried the story on November 21, the National Post on November 24, the Toronto Star on November 28 and The Globe and Mail on December 1).
As you might expect, CBC News editors are faced daily with choosing – from among the thousands available in Canada and around the world – the few dozen stories that they feel are the most significant and will be of the greatest interest to Canadians. It is a decision made all the more difficult by the limited resources and time available in our news programs and our Internet pages. Of course, we cannot include all, or even many, of the stories taking place around the country and the world, but thank you for drawing this one to our attention. We will continue to follow it.
Thank you again for your e-mail.
Finally, it is my responsibility to inform you that if you are not satisfied with this response, you may wish to submit the matter for review by the CBC Ombudsman. The Office of the Ombudsman, an independent and impartial body reporting directly to the President, is responsible for evaluating program compliance with the CBC’s journalistic policies. The Ombudsman may be reached by mail at the address shown below, or by fax at (416) 205-2825, or by e-mail at ombudsman@cbc.ca
Response:
Ester.
With all due respect putting it on CBCnews.ca is a cop-out. I’m talking about it being on CBC television.
If its good enough for Fox News to HIGHLIGHT it should at least get coverage in Canada.
“Of course, we cannot include all, or even many, of the stories taking place around the country and the world, but thank you for drawing this one to our attention. We will continue to follow it.”
This story isn’t just another “story” to be covered. The Tiger Woods story, which you have given extensive coverage to, affects a handful of people. Global warming and the ramifications of implementing changes to address it affects billions of people worldwide and hundreds of trillions of dollars so this isn’t just one” of the stories taking place around the country and the world”.
But I do realize it probably doesn’t fit into the CBC’s ideology.
No wonder the MSM is taking a back seat to bloggers and the Internet.
Regards
Fred Mcxxxx