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Media Report

Media and the Environment

by Arthur Weinreb

December 9, 2002

From politics to crime and from the arts to sports, of all the varied topics that the news media covers, probably the greatest amount of misinformation, non-information and bias is found in the coverage of environmental issues. The doom and gloom scenario for the future of the earth that was once the sole purview of the radical environmentalists has now become mainstream. It is so mainstream that the media blindly accepts conclusions about the environment and feels no need to provide facts or data to support the propositions that they are disseminating. Even when the ratification of Kyoto by the Canadian parliament is a major news story, facts are dispensed with. The media has by and large accepted the pro-Kyoto view of things and feels no need to support its position with data.

The environment is science and science is facts. For example, the theory of global warming is based upon facts that have been arrived at through the use of computer models and projections. Although, these are somewhat complicated, there are parameters that are used to determine the severity of the problem. But the media declines to mention these. How much is the temperature expected to rise by the year 2100? And what will be the difference in the temperature rise if Kyoto is not implemented or fully implemented? While the mainstream media is quick to use figures that estimate the cost to the economy, including the number of jobs lost and the decrease in GDP of the implementation of the Kyoto Accords, figures concerning the actual amount of estimated temperature rise are noticeably absent. One wonders if these figures are left out because they are too complicated for the poor under-educated consumers of news or for another reason. But then how many people are capable of fully understanding the actual impact that the implementation of Kyoto will have on the economy? That can’t be the real reason. The media has simply bought into the view that there is nothing to discuss. If Kyoto isn’t implemented, there will be a major catastrophe. And the factual information does not require any investigative reporting that many news organizations are shying away from because of the cost. All the information is out there.

When the news media does use figures when reporting some environmental stories, they rarely supply other facts that allow the reader or viewer to put those facts in the proper perspective. For example, at the time of this writing, there have been 88 traffic fatalities in the City of Toronto during 2002. Is that high or low or a record high or a record low? Most articles that refer to the number of traffic deaths give other figures such as the number of deaths that have occurred at this time last year. If it were indeed a record, figures from a few previous years would be given. The news consumer is given comparative information to be able to put the number "88" in context. But in the news about the recent oil tanker spill off the coast of Spain, it was reported that an estimated 15,000 birds were killed. No comparative figures were given to enable the news consumer to determine how high (or low) that number actually is. How many birds are killed by domestic cats every day? How many birds die every day as a result of flying into windows? Again, the information is all out there--the media just doesn’t report it.

The media simply buys into the left wing environmentalist ideology of doom and gloom and the destruction of things as we know it. Remember when Saddam Hussein’s army set oil fields on fire when they were withdrawing from Kuwait at the end of the Gulf War? That was heralded as a great environmental disaster. But since it happened there has been hardly any mention of it. The world apparently, did not come to an end.

The way the media treats environmental issues is a perfect example of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

Arthur Weinreb is a lawyer and author and Associate Editor of Canadafreepress.com



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