How distorted is the corporate media concept of critical journalism? Just look at Media Matters‘ write up (2/5/09) of a cable news show that named one commentator its “Muckraker of the Day” for presenting bogus evidence against global warming:
On the February 2 edition of MSBNC‘s 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, anchor David Shuster let syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock tout climate change skeptic Martin Hertzberg’s assertion that global warming is not occurring because, in Murdock’s words, “the Earth temperature has gone down 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since 1997.” Murdock was referencing the following quote from Hertzberg that Murdock included in a February 1 column: “The average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere has declined over the last 10 years. From the El Nino Year of 1998 until January 2007, it dropped a quarter of a degree Celsius (0.45 degrees Fahrenheit). From January 2007 to the spring of 2008, it dropped a whopping three-quarters of a degree Celsius (1.35 degrees Fahrenheit).” Rather than challenge this use of data, Shuster named Murdock “our Muckraker of the Day” and “congratulat[ed]” Murdock for “stirring the pot.”
“But climate scientists warn against cherry-picking yearly temperature averages as purported evidence that global warming is not occurring, especially,” Media Matters notes, “from years in which El Nino and La Nina events occurred, as Murdock and Hertzberg did.”
Read the FAIR magazine Extra!: “In Denial on Climate Change: Leading Pundits Reject Science on Global Warming” (5-6/07) by Peter Hart
