Media -- Will-fully Wrong

February 18, 2009

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Igor Volsky

MEDIA

Will-fully Wrong

In Sunday's Washington Post, conservative columnist George Will attacked Secretary of Energy (and Nobel-Prize winning physicist) Steven Chu for describing that, "in a worst case," "global warming might melt 90 percent of California's snowpack." Chu was referring to "the persistent and dramatic decline in the snowpack of many mountains in the West," a phenomenon scientists attribute to "human-induced global warming." In fact, in response to the statewide drought, "the nation's biggest public utility voted on Tuesday to impose water rationing in Los Angeles for the first time in nearly two decades." Without refuting Chu's claim, Will chastised the secretary for "doomsaying" about global warming, arguing that concerns about climate change are just "eco-pessimism." "On graphs tracking public opinion, two lines are moving in tandem and inversely: The sharply rising line charts public concern about the economy, the plunging line follows concern about the environment," Will wrote. "Real calamities take our minds off hypothetical ones." But as Climate Progress's Joe Romm observed, "I don't know whether it is more pathetic that Will believes this or that the Washington Post simply lets him publish this lie again and again." Indeed, despite Will's history of spreading misinformation about global climate change, the Post and other media outlets have eagerly provided platforms for climate skeptics to distort the scientific consensus around global warming and mislead the public.

WILL IS WRONG: As evidence to support his point, Will wrote that "according to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979," and he seized on a "since corrected BBC News article" to argue that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has found that "there has been no recorded global warming for more than a decade." But as TPMmuckraker reported, the Arctic Climate Research Center (ACRC) quickly disputed Will's conclusion. "We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km," ACRC wrote in a statement shortly after the Post published Will's column. Similarly, the WMO has written that "the long-term upward trend of global warming, mostly driven by greenhouse gas emissions, is continuing." "The decade from 1998 to 2007 has been the warmest on record, and the global average surface temperature has risen by 0.74C since the beginning of the 20th Century." In fact, according to the California Climate Change Center, "by the end of century, snowpack could decrease by as much as 90% in the higher amount of warming -- almost double the losses expected under theower warming cases." Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Will has trotted out these discredited arguments. As the Wonk Room's Brad Johnson pointed out, "Will is also recycling his own work, republishing an extended passage from a 2006 column...almost word for word." Then, as now, Will saw a report that "appeared to confirm what he believes and straight into the Washington Post it went. Neither did Will's editors at the Post seem to care enough about not misinforming their readers to take ten minutes to delve into any of this."

THE MEDIA'S FALSE DEBATE: While Will has a long track record of twisting scientific evidence to deny global warming, the media -- including the Washington Post -- have historically facilitated a false debate over climate change. According to the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), "despite the consistent assertions of the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that human activities have a 'discernible' influence on the global climate and that global warming is a serious problem that must be addressed immediately, 'he said/she said' reporting has allowed a small group of global warming skeptics to have their views greatly amplified." As FAIR's Ross Gelbspan explained, the professional canon of journalistic fairness requires reporters to "present competing points of view on a scientific question as though they had equal scientific weight, when actually they do not." In fact, one FAIR media study of news articles from the major national papers found that "53 percent of the articles gave roughly equal attention to the views that humans contribute to global warming and that climate change is exclusively the result of natural fluctuations," and "35 percent emphasized the role of humans while presenting both sides of the debate." More recent media analyses have suggested that the media are slowly "eliminating false balance when addressing human activity's role in global warming." The Post opinion pages, however, are an exception. "There is, it seems, a striving for 'fair and balanced' rather than accurate and truthful when it comes to Washington Post editorial decisions about articles and opinion pieces on climate issues," Get Energy Smart Now observed.

MEDIA 'BALANCE' MISLEADS PUBLIC: Given the media's eagerness to prop-up global warming skeptics, it's no surprise that "only 40 percent of Americans believe that 'most' scientists agree that 'global warming is happening." As te Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) noted, the media is misinforming the public on climate change. The media "have caused confusion about what scientists agree upon and what they don't by relying on he-said/she-said reporting; when no context or weight is given to the relative merits of each argument, such reporting can create a false sense of balance in the minds of readers and viewers," CJR reporter Curtis Brainard argued. In fact, biased media coverage even has some climate skeptics claiming victory. In January, while hosting prominent global warming denier Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) on his show, Bill Bennett opened up the conversation by telling Inhofe, "I think you've prevailed on this." "I really believe it," replied Inhofe, claiming that his opponents "won't say global warming any more, they're trying to say climate change." Last week, Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes similarly argued, "The more the case for man-made warming falls apart, the more hysterical Gore gets about an imminent catastrophe. The more public support his bill loses, the more Obama embraces fear-mongering."

HEALTH CARE -- REPORT SAYS 14,000 AMERICANS LOSE HEALTH INSURANCE EVERY DAY: The economic recovery package that President Obama signed into law yesterday in Denver contains many important health care provisions such as funding for Medicaid and health IT as well as subsidies for the recently unemployed. However, the bill does not represent a total victory for progressive health care advocates, as lawmakers negotiating the bill compromised on a number of key health care components. For example, negotiators bowed to objections from conservatives and stripped provisions that would have allowed workers "to stay on Cobra until they qualified for Medicare" or enroll in Medicaid if they couldn't afford COBRA premiums "even with the new subsidies." At the same time, Americans in large numbers are losing health care coverage. In fact, according to a new Center for American Progress Action Fund report, the unemployment rate grew by 0.8 percentage points in December and January while 100,000 people a week, or 14,000 people a day lost their health coverage. The ranks of the uninsured will continue to grow as the recession persists. As Berkeley professor Jacob Hacker pointed out, the stimulus "won't provide the cure" to the health care crisis. "What we need is a new New Deal."

ECONOMY -- SEN. BOND TOUTS EFFECTS OF RECOVERY BILL HE VOTED AGAINST: Last week, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) slammed President Obama's recovery and reinvestment plan. "Hold on to your wallets folks because with the passage of this trillion-dollar baby the Democrats will be poised to spend as much as $3 trillion in your tax dollars," Bond said, warning that the bill "will do little to stimulate jobs or the economy." Today, however, Bond is touring Missouri to tout the stimulus plan, bragging about an amendment he included in the bill to provide more funding for affordable housing. "As part of the Democrats' spending bill now signed into law, the Senate unanimously accepted Bond's provision," a press release from Bond's office boasts, adding that the amendment will "create 3,000 new jobs in Missouri." Last Friday, Rep. John Mica (R-FL) gushed over the bill, which he voted against as well. "I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," he said in a press release. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) boasted that he "won a victory for...Alaska small business owners" in the recovery bill that he voted against. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who also campaigned ardently against the bill, said he would nevertheless accept its funds for his state. "You don't want to be crazy here," he said.

CONGRESS -- REP. CANTOR PREPARES TO OBSTRUCT OBAMA'S HOUSING PLAN BEFORE IT IS RELEASED: After signing the $787 billion economic recovery bill into law yesterday, President Obama will announce a plan to address the nation's housing crisis today in Phoenix, AZ. The much needed plan will reportedly "use at least $50 billion in Wall Street rescue money authorized last year to provide subsidies when banks reduce interest rates for troubled homeowners to lower the monthly payments many Americans are now struggling to pay." However, it appears that conservatives in Congress are gearing up to obstruct the plan. In fact, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) was already preparing to stage a partisan fight against Obama's housing legislation before the details were even released. "When you're looking at the policy here, you've got to start with the fact that 93 percent of America's families are current on their mortgages and, frankly, are out there wondering, you know, who is going to pay for this continued succession of bailouts?" Cantor said in an interview with CBS on Monday. "We just cannot continue to pay for the kind of things that this administration thinks we can." Cantor's blind opposition is ironic, considering that several conservatives in Congress -- including Cantor himself -- slammed the economic recovery package for allegedly not addressing the housing crisis. Indeed, in an op-ed last month titled "Fix the Stimulus," Cantor argued, "Also critical will be addressing the housing crisis."

The Senate Ethics Committee has opened an inquiry into Sen. Roland Burris's (D-IL) "conflicting testimony on the circumstances surrounding his appointment. ... While actions could extend to expulsion, the committee often opts for less severe punishments such as letters of admonition."

"It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring," former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan told the Financial Times. "I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do."

"After years in which military budgets have soared to record levels," the Pentagon is preparing to have its funding scaled back in President Obama's upcoming budget, set to be released next week. "One thing we have known for many months is the spigot of defense funding opened by 9/11 is closing," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress recently. The Center for American Progress's Lawrence Korb suggests ways to cut wasteful Pentagon spending here.

The Environmental Protection Agency "will reopen the possibility of regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, tossing aside a December Bush administration memorandum that declared that the agency would not limit the emissions. The decision could mark the first step toward placing limits on greenhouse gases emitted by coal plants."

Yesterday, the Obama administration launched Recovery.gov, a website that will attempt to institute accountability over the expenditure of stimulus funds. "The site features cool graphs, interactive maps, projected timelines of when the money will start pumping into the economy, and a place to share your stories and offer comments."

The SEC charged Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford yesterday with carrying out a "massive, ongoing fraud" involving the sale of $8 billion in certificates of deposit. Stanford and his colleagues "lied to customers about how their money was being invested" while promising "improbable, if not impossible" returns. Over the last 10 years, Stanford spent at least $5 million on lobbying and campaign contributions.

Visiting Indonesia today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "pledged a new American openness to ideas from abroad, especially the Muslim world." As a signal that "steps were already being taken to improve relations," Clinton announced at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda that Peace Corps operations were expected to resume in Indonesia after a long absence.

CQ writes that House GOP leaders Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Mike Pence (R-IN) are "repackag[ing] the right's thinking." But they're using familiar tactics. "The pair is out to align the business community's K Street allies and their party's conservative wing in time for the 2010 midterm campaign."

And finally: The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reports that "recent Colorado Senate candidate Bob Schaffer has become...(drum roll)...a margarita pitchman! For real." Schaffer was recently appeared on the local Fox affiliate with his wife, Maureen, to tout her new "premium margarita" Coyote Gold. Schaffer refused to bite when the news host asked whether he drank the margaritas to "help offset the stress of a long day on the campaign trail." "This didn't play any role in the campaign," replied Schaffer. Watch video here.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said yesterday that the service will be cutting back on its plans to buy more F-22 Raptor fighter jets, a program considered an "aerial boondoggle" that is "sucking up funds."

THINK PROGRESS: Housing industry cites comments on online articles to claim that those publications support home buyer tax credit.

WONK ROOM: BusinessWeek correspondent Keith Epstein: Banking industry lobbying against mortgage cram-downs "right now, as we speak."

YGLESIAS: Libertarian economist denounces rescue package, admits he doesn't know what he's talking about.

CLIMATE PROGRESS: Climate scientists have begun speaking in the present tense about the consequences of global warming.

ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune and Washington Post call on Sen. Roland Burris (D) to resign.

NEW JERSEY: Gov. Jon Corzine (D) calls for a two-day furlough of state workers.

LOUISIANA: Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) may reject economic recovery package money.

"First, we have zero capital gains. We eliminate the capital gains tax. ... [I]t's a new, bold idea."
-- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 2/17/09

VERSUS

"Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested today that all capital gains and estate taxes be eliminated."
-- New York Times, 4/10/97

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