Media Manipulation Hacked climate emails 'ignored' in Australia
| 04 December 2009
WHETHER they represent a smoking gun shooting holes in climate change, as some assert, or just hot air, as others contend, most of Australia's mainstream media is being accused of running cold on the leaked emails.
Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam said most local news outlets had "pretty much ignored" the story, which broke in mid-November when thousands of emails and documents hacked from the East Anglia Climate Research Unit in Britain were anonymously posted on the internet.
The documents raised allegations that the case for global warming had been exaggerated and dissenting scientific opinions had been suppressed.
Dividing Google mentions of the word "Climategate" per country of origin by population, Roskam found it had got 25 times more publicity in the US than here and three times as much as "even . . . in New Zealand".
Mr Roskam described the IPA as being "broadly sceptical" on global warming and acknowledged his formula was "very simple and very unscientific".
"But it's still revealing," he said. "It reveals the extent of groupthink in political and media circles. I think the mainstream media has let down the Australian public by not covering this."
The story received its first newspaper coverage here in three News Limited titles on November 23, placed on page one of The Australian, page two of The Herald Sun and page 22 of The Daily Telegraph. In the fortnight since, it has garnered fewer than 50 mentions in the 10 major metropolitan mastheads, about 20 of them in The Australian. Citing Mr Roskam's research, Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt yesterday accused other media outlets, particularly the ABC and Fairfax Media newspapers such as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, of downplaying the story.
Bolt singled out ABC 774 Melbourne morning presenter Jon Faine, who has publicly stated he has chosen not to cover the story. Tackled on air about the issue on November 25, Faine said he felt it "was being given more prominence than it perhaps deserved".
"It's one research centre and some emails that are fairly ambiguous, from the extracts that I've seen, and I don't think it adds to the debate at all," Faine said.
Shane Castleman, head of news gathering at the ABC, said the story had been covered on radio, TV and online by programs including AM, PM, The World Today, News Breakfast, The 7.30 Report and Lateline.
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