That’s the assessment of media analyst Steve Boriss, who says when the media try to play scientist:
[Y]ou end-up with TV networks that jump and cling to the outrageously premature conclusion that global warming is an environmental catastrophe that is all mankind’s fault. You end-up with coverage that stifles debate, relies on politicians and rock stars for scientific analysis, and smears as cynics and deniers the hundreds of honest scientists who beg to differ. But, another inconvenient truth is that the Internet is now giving these dissidents a voice, and the public is beginning to hear them. Journalists are now beginning to feel the heat, and if they don’t adapt to the new environment soon, their field will be threatened with extinction.
Those dissidents, by the way, ARE becoming more of a force, as the John Locke Foundation’s Roy Cordato found recently at the International Conference on Climate Change in New York.
