When it comes to the credibility of claims made about a particular science, one hopes the media would be wise enough to distinguish between respectable science and thinly veiled political advocacy. The UK's Timesand Breitbarthave both failed that test. How? By dismissing a World Health Organization report and taking as gospel the word of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (the UK denial group forced to spin-off an official political advocacy wing after being chastised for "blurring fact and comment").
When the WHO released a report (.pdf) finding that climate change could cause more than 200,000 additional deaths between 2030 and 2050, the GWPF put together its own report that amounts to a weak "nuh uh!" The Times of London then ran with the story, claiming the WHO report was exaggerated and "based on false assumptions" that aren't clearly labeled in the fact sheet (even though the report lists its assumptions in full). In a detailed debunking, Carbon Brief points out that the table of assumptions ALSO appears in the executive summary—hardly hidden, like the GWPF charges!
In an act of hypocrisy, the GWPF analyst told the Times — without any basis or explanation in the GWPF report — that the WHO's assumptions led to "at least a 10-fold exaggeration in the number of extra deaths." This leads to Carbon Brief's strong conclusion that "unlike WHO's work, which clearly outlines its assumptions and limitations, the GWPF's estimate is impossible to analyse."
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