In past years, deniers have done everything in their power to sabotage media coverage of UN climate negotiations by manufacturing a scandal directly before they start. This is what happened in 2009 when the Climategate emails were released the week before the Copenhagen Summit. As we all remember, this led to misleading mainstream coverage that simply repeated the myths, truncated quotes, and flat-out lies that were circulating in the deniersphere.
In later years we've seen attempts to revive Climategate, as well as other stunts seeking to repeat its "success," but so far nothing has come close. This has held true so far in Lima, as the negotiations reach their halfway point. With the first week over, there doesn't seem to be the same level of coordinated attacks that have clouded past meetings. While there certainly have been negative stories in the blogosphere, a unifying news hook to skew mainstream coverage has yet to emerge.
Instead we see various flavors of denial, with some denying 2014's record heat, some repeating tired claims that assistance to developing countries is "a criminal enterprise," and others sticking to the tried and true "B-b-b-but China!" excuse (rebuttal to that WSJ piece available on DeSmog.)
All this varied nonsense means that we expect to see a full blown denier media push any day now, complete with a compelling narrative, click-baiting titles and completely bogus claims. 'Tis the season, after all. However, if the media learned from last time and chooses to ignore them... that may just be a Christmas miracle!
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