BusinessWeek Credits 'Savvier Media' With Silencing Warming Opposition

April 18th, 2007 3:12 PM

     There is more than a few letters different between “silent” and “silenced.”


     In the case of “lost credibility” of “almost silenced,” climate scientists who disagree with Al Gore’s climate consensus, BusinessWeek gave the credit to “savvier media to push the global warming agenda of more regulation and higher taxes.


     “In addition, contrarians have taken a hit from a savvier media. Instead of just quoting a scientist on both sides of the debates, journalists increasingly have assessed the weight of the evidence and explained who was behind the opposing views,” explained the ” in its April 23 issue.


     But the subhead of the story, which read “with the skeptics almost silenced,” made it clear that the media is actively silencing critics it disagrees with. The first paragraph emphasized that the media believe the skeptics were wrong all along.


     BusinessWeek praised corporations that have “come around” and are now lobbying for carbon limits – automakers, Edison Electric Institute, Duke Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips – with only a dash of criticism regarding motivation coming from environmentalists.


     “Even Exxon Mobil Corp., which has spent millions to raise doubts about climate change, now claims to have been misunderstood,” said BusinessWeek.


     While the magazine was quick to praise the media for investigating climate skeptics and their funding, no such information was provided for Greenpeace or National Resources Defense Council experts quoted by BusinessWeek.