Denial or seeking to deny man-made global warming

[izabsmiling]

Aptly enough imo Prince Charles refered to climate change deniers as the headless chicken brigade .

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Should Australian newspapers publish climate change denialist opinion pieces?

Should Australian newspapers, like Fairfax, publish opinion pieces that deny or seek to cast doubt on man-made global warming

Should Fairfax — or other media publishers — give a platform for climate change denialist opinion pieces?

The most recent example is Fairfax publishing a piece by John McLean, a member of the International Climate Science Coalition.

In the opinion piece, McLean repeats various lines designed to create uncertainty about the recent report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and to impute a sinister motive on IPCC members of political and scientific deception.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2014/jan/04/climate-change-climate-change...

When Fairfax saw mining billionaire Gina Rinehart buy a large stake in the company, the chairman Roger Corbett upheld the board's support for the charter of editorial independence. This was opposed at the time by Rinehart, although Rinehart board appointee Jack Cowin signed it.

Coincidentally, Rinehart is a big supporter of ICSC policy advisor Christopher Monckton and in a 2011 interview expressed her disbeliefthat "a small amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere" could lead to global warming.

The Rinehart shareholding controversy even saw Fairfax mastheadslaunch a new slogan "Independent. Always."

A part of the charter is that editors behave according to the Australian Journalist Association's code of ethics, the first standard being that journalists:

Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts.  Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis.

At the same time that Reddit /r/science decided to ban climate denialism, the L.A. Times also decided to introduce an editorial policy for its letters pages. Editor Paul Thornton wrote:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2014/jan/04/climate-change-climate-change...

How does publication of  such fit with Australian Journalists Code of Ethics ?

Should we follow the lead of other Countries ?

nb please feel free to expand on this title and opening post in the manner which is the norm with general discussions.

[cherry*135]

Monman wrote: I still though would not restrict the right for the nuts to propagate their views, I do love a chuckle or two.

Good to see OP you have approved that post including the sentence above as an answer/solution.

[cherry*135]

If anyone doesn't approve of what a newspaper prints they should boycott it. I wouldn't buy or read online The Daily Telegraph.
That doesn't mean I don't think others should buy it or read it.

[*mrgrizz*]

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@am*3 wrote:
If anyone doesn't approve of what a newspaper prints they should boycott it. I wouldn't buy or read online The Daily Telegraph.
That doesn't mean I don't think others should buy it or read it.

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a bit like my interest in Womans Day

[izabsmiling]

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@chuk_77 wrote:

why? Their aim is to sell the media they write for. If their piece draws attention and sells they have done their job. Its good to make people think and debate

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Australian Media Codes of Practice

ABC

Code of practice

SBS

Codes of practice [External Link]

Fairfax Media

Fairfax Code of Conduct [External Link]

Sydney Morning Herald Code of Ethics [External Link]

The Age Code of Conduct [External Link]

News Ltd.

Professional conduct policy (PDF document, 43 KB)

Australian Press Council

www.presscouncil.org.au [External Link]

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance

Code of Ethics [External Link]

Free TV

Code of Practice [External Link]

Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

Commercial radio codes of practice and guidelines [External Link]

Commercial television industry codes of practice [External Link]

Community broadcasting codes of practice [External Link]

Codes and standards for internet content [External Link]

 http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/resources.htm

 http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/resources.htm

Like many jobs it is not without responsibilities 

[chuk_77]

15 links are you for real? Aint no one got time fo dat

[izabsmiling]

yes...heaps there isn't there .

[chuk_77]

why dont you just come out and say what you mean? Why the need for so many links in one post. You have to know given the last few weeks of threads that no one will bother reading them

A normal person would just say there are 15 sites to back up what Im saying all you have to do is look or some such. Putting up so many links makes your arguement invalid

[izabsmiling]

you asked a question Chuk .I answered it with the links which show that there is more to the job than just making money.

I will refrain from replying to personal comments about myself

[catsnknots]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

Doesn't an opinion stop being 'just' an opinion when evidence supports it to be fact ?

If something has the evidence to back it up as scientifically known fact wouldn't publishing content that suggests it is not be ignoring evidence,be misleading and would the Newspaper itself not be publishing lies ? 

At what point does the scientific evidence 

become as accepted as the scientific evidence of the harm smoking ciggarettes ?

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Considering I am now studying a science degree I can tell you that no, just because there is a scientifically known fact does not mean you just accept it and never question it.... you must always question the facts as science is always a subject where analysis must continually happen. 

And I know this as today I was just tested on questions around this very topic and I got full marks so it seems I am confident in my argument with you. 

All I can say is that the only point that I would not argue science is when it comes to actualy basic chemistry... that seems all well and truly accounted for but I will always keep am ear out for any information that may change those concepts.  

[izabsmiling]

Congats Catmad, A Newspaper can publish a  statement such as "there is no evidence to support man-made climate change" ?