As NewsBusters reported Saturday, Phil Jones, the head of the British Climatic Research Unit at the heart of ClimateGate, told the BBC: the recent warming trend that began in 1975 is not at all different than two other planetary warming phases since 1850; there has been no statistically significant warming since 1995, and; it is possible the Medieval Warm Period was indeed a global phenomenon thereby making the temperatures seen in the latter part of the 20th century by no means unprecedented.
Jones also admitted that he and his fellow scientists manipulated figures to hide a decline in crucial tree-ring data thereby questioning the validity of the entire global warming theory.
Despite the seriousness of these revelations, much as what happened when the ClimateGate scandal first broke, with the exception of Fox News -- and a lone report by CNN -- America's media have almost totally boycotted this amazing story:
- No mention by the New York Times
- No mention by the Washington Post
- No mention by USA Today
- No mention by ANY major U.S. newspaper EXCEPT the Washington Times
- No mention by the Associated Press
- No mention by Reuters
- No mention by UPI
- No mention by ABC News
- No mention by CBS News
- No mention by NBC News
- No mention by MSNBC
For its part, CNN FINALLY got around to covering this story with a very brief mention Tuesday at 6AM on "American Morning":
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: There's also something else that's out there. Phil Jones from the University of East Anglia, the climate research unit, the guy that was at the center of this recent e-mail controversy late last year, has said in an interview with the BBC that he has not seen any, quote, "statistically significant warming since 1995," though he says he still believes that the earth's temperature has warmed. And he also said that he might be missing some of the data that is responsible for his climate models.
Of course, skeptics are jumping all over this, saying the whole thing is a farce. Global warming doesn't exist.
What do you think of the Professor Jones situation, the lack of statistically significant warming, and the fact that he may have misplaced some of the records?
JOHN CHRISTY, PROFESSOR, ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE, UNIV. OF ALABAMA- HUNTSVILLE: Well, I think what Phil Jones is saying is that Mother Nature is perfectly capable of making the temperature rise and fall through the past several hundred years. And in terms of the data problems, well, we do have to be careful when we're talking about public policy, that means trillions of dollars, and we haven't had that very hard and critical situation where you take care of data and make it publicly available to everyone. And that needs to be done now.
That's it!
Bear in mind that the Jones BBC interview was published Saturday. NewsBusters reported the revelations at 6PM Eastern Time the same day. And yet CNN first mentioned the story possibly as much as 72 hours AFTER the BBC piece.
I guess that's why CNN is no longer considered the most trusted name in news.
Speaking of which, much as it did when ClimateGate broke, FNC has been all over this story addressing it on "Fox News Sunday," on Monday's "Glenn Beck Show," on Monday's "Special Report," and on Monday's "Hannity."
By contrast, for their part, the rest of the news media have found filmmaker Kevin Smith being thrown off a Southwest plane for being too fat MUCH more important:
- The New York Times reported it
- The Washington Post reported it
- The Associated Press reported it
- UPI reported it
- ABC News reported it
- CBS News reported it
- CNN reported it -- 14 TIMES!
Well, I guess "journalists" have to have their priorities, don't they?
Once again, much as what happened with ClimateGate, America's press are asleep at the wheel concerning a major story involving global warming.
There's no other way of saying it: when it comes to Al Gore's favorite money-making myth, the American media are almost criminal in their behavior.
Shame on them!!!
*****Update: Marc Sheppard has more.
