How The Australian Newspaper Warps The World of Climate Science

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THERE is a publication in Australia where for every one story you read which agrees society should take firm steps to combat climate change, there are four stories suggesting weย shouldnโ€™t.

When climate change is viewed through the pages of this publication, most of the worldโ€™s โ€œexpertsโ€ think itโ€™s either not happening, not worth worrying about or not caused byย humans.

Advocates for strong action on climate change are variously described as โ€œprophets of doomโ€, โ€œgreenhouse hystericsโ€ or โ€œhair-shirted greenhouseย penitentsโ€.ย 

As extreme as these positions might appear, this publication is not a newsletter from a fringe group or a bulletin from the Tea Party.
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This is the divisive state of climate change science in the pages of the nationโ€™s sole national newspaper The Australian, according to a 115-page examination of the publicationโ€™s role in shaping how Australia thinks.
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The essay โ€“ Bad Newsย (paywalled) – is written by author Professor Robert Manne, one of the countryโ€™s leading political thinkers.
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In an excerpt from his essay, published in The Age, Manne writes
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As we shall see, what The Australian has contributed on climate change under editor Chris Mitchell’s watch is a frightful hotchpotch of ideological prejudice and intellectual muddle
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The Australianโ€™s owner is Rupert Murdoch, who in 2006 said the planet deserved โ€œthe benefit of the doubtโ€ and that it was now time to โ€œtake a leadโ€ on the issue.
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Manne analysed climate change articles printed by The Australian between January 2004 and April 2011 and found that 700 articles were โ€œunfavourableโ€ to action on climate change.
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That is, they either disagreed with the consensus of climate science, didnโ€™t support Australiaโ€™s ratification of the Kyoto protocol or didnโ€™t support previous governmentsโ€™ steps towards a carbon trading scheme.ย 
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Balanced against these 700 articles, there were 180 stories and columns โ€œfavourableโ€ to ย action on climate change.ย 
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Climate skepticism and denial also heavily dominated the newspaperโ€™s columns and opinion articles, Manne found.
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Dozens of articles were published by โ€œscientistsโ€ which rejected the consensual view. ย 

Sceptics including Bob Carter, Ian Plimer, Christopher Monckton, Richard Lindzen, David Bellamy and John Christy were all given space in The Australian.ย 

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In particular, Bob Carter wrote nine articles, Bjorn Lomborg penned 25 and two members of the Australian โ€œfree marketโ€ think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs, well known for dissemination of climate denial, wrote 16 articles.ย 
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Contributions from recognised climate science experts, such as James Hansen and the immediate past president of the Australian Academy of Science Professor Kurt Lambeck, were outnumbered by ten to one.
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Among The Australianโ€™s in-house regulars, Manne documents the โ€œcomical degree of self-confidenceโ€ with which its writers disagreed with established climate science.
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While in its official editorials, The Australian has said it accepts the science of climate change, Manneย looks closer at the newspaper’s record.

In its coverage of climate change, The Australian had failed to acknowledge the distinction between genuine expertise and โ€œcontrarians or cranksโ€ and had โ€œthreatened the always vulnerable place of reason in public lifeโ€.
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Manne’s essay is just the latest to question The Australian‘s coverage of climate change.
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Astrophysicist Michael Ashley recently documented onย The Conversationย the newspaper’s questionable record and described its climate change coverage as resembling an โ€œevent horizonโ€ where โ€œour normal perception of reality is so completely overturnedโ€.
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In a long-running series, Tim Lambertโ€™s Deltoid blog has been documenting The Australianโ€™s โ€œwar on scienceโ€ – a list of errors and misrepresentations – which is currently up to 70.
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In a profile of The Australianโ€™s editor Chris Mitchell, published in the August issue of magazine The Monthly, it was revealed that News Limitedโ€™s environment and climate change manager Dr Tony Wilkins had himself canceled his subscription to The Australian over its coverage of climate change.
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When a former journalist at The Australian complained during a conference last year that writing on climate change for the newspaper had been โ€œtortureโ€, Mitchell threatened to sue academic Julie Posetti, who had tweeted the comments.
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Legal letters went backwards and forwards in what became known as #Twitdef โ€“ the hashtag used by followers of the case on Twitter. The threat has not been withdrawn.

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