Though the bulk of current attention is on the coming ArmagedDonald, there are still ample examples of the misrepresentation of climate science. For example, if you have been browsing the post-truth media, you may’ve seen reports about Antarctic sea ice being stable for a hundred years (and therefore supposedly raising doubts about climate change).
The basis for these stories is a study that looked at the logbooks of famed Antarctic explorer Captain Cook and compared the ice extent cataloged then with what has been recorded via satellites more recently. Carbon Brief invited one of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Jonathan Day, to write a guest post to correct the misleading media coverage of Antarctic sea ice paper. It’s always helpful to have these sorts of “straight from the horse’s mouth” rebuttals handy, and this one also provides a few screenshots of the various headlines. This an interesting addition to the post, giving readers a good sense of what went wrong without rewarding the undeserving outlets with clicks.
Speaking of undeserving outlets, the Daily Mail’s David Rose has an article out about how El Nino, not man-made warming, caused this year’s record heat. Tamino thoroughly debunks it, driving home the ridiculousness of Rose’s article with a refrain asking “How Stupid Does David Rose Think You Are?”
These days though, perhaps we shouldn’t be thinking of the Daily Mail and its fellow tabloids as pandering to the stupid. Instead, maybe we should praise them as prescient, as reporters like Rose have been charting post-truth waters for quite a while.
Meaning one day, a researcher might look at Rose’s work -- much as Dr. Day looked at Captain Cook’s to measure sea ice extent -- to try and measure the extent of #FakeNews in this newly discovered post-truth world.
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