portrayals of climate change

8/3/2019 Portrayals of Climate Change

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Portrayals of Climate Change

Part 1



Module Learning Outcomes

• Be aware of developments in climate changeas they arise, and interpret them in their socio-

economic andpolitical context

• Develop keyresearch skills



By the end of this session, you should:

• Have a different attitude towards information

• Be able to better identify bias & inaccuracy andfactors leading to them

• Be able to identify all main info sources for CC& evaluate their reliability

• Understand the peer-review process, with itsbenefits and drawbacks

• Have experienced real-life examples of biasand inaccuracy, and the factors leading to them

• Be able to assess how different portrayals ofclimate change may affect science and society

• Be more familiar with the assessment criteria



1 Brainstorm: Information sources for climate change



• Which sources are reliable?

•Would you be more likely to believe them if twoor more experts had vetted them first?

• Peer review: the best guide we’ve got

• What’s peer reviewed?

Fill in white-board



The culprit



3 Media Stunt

Write a short articlefor Leeds Student newspaper

• What happened

• Detailed descriptionof suspect

Topic formulation Original angle, well focused and new Well targeted Headline Short, snappy (and witty) Intro/ first paragraph Concise

Summarises article well - breath &prioritisation of material Main Content Well integrated into up-to-date context Coherently written and well prioritised

Style Easy to understand Appropriate length of sentences andparagraphs Notes to Editors Appropriate breadth of relevant material

• Compare stories

• Two possiblereasons fordifferences



4 Benefits and drawbacks of peer review

More objective

Represents

academiccommunity

Improves quality Guides readers

Need qualified,contentious reviewer

Rivals can exploit Delays publication –

leaks may occur Author may not

agree with reviewer

When this happens,some resubmit untilpublishedsomewhere

+ -

What’s peer reviewed cont…



Homework

• Read and mark the two essays forThursday

• Use Research Report assessmentcriteria

• Refer to Climate Change Glossaryfor technical language

Jump to 13?



Portrayals of Climate Change

Part 2



Essay marking exercise

• Compare marks with neighbour

• Concensus

• Which is the better essay?

• Essay 1: Schlesinger (1999) published in

• Essay 2: by Wojick (1999), published on theinternet by the “Greening Earth Society”

•Assessment criteria useful to evaluate published lit

•Research author credibility or rely on peer-review



Rely on this?

Test this?



The Media: Newspapers

Earlier this year the Royal Society asked thepublic if they agreed that:

“The media present science in a responsible way”

• Do you?• What was the response?

39%



Case Study: Media coverage of COP6 Pt.1 versus

other stories in three national newspapers (6-

29th November 2000)

0200400600800

1000

12001400160018002000

COP 6 at

the

Hague

Fuel Duty UK

Floods

Elton

John

Court

Case

C o l u m n c e n t i m e t r e s

The Sun

The MirrorThe Daily Mai

The Telegrap

From Common (2000)



Tabloids

• Stories about personalities that could be linked toEuropean politics

• Fuel duty not linked to carbon dioxide emissions

The idea that carbon dioxide emissions causeglobal warming is “wrong” (a “Distinguished

Science Writer”)

Failure of the Kyoto Protocol will 'doom mankind'

“It was revealed that Mount Everest was

MELTING because of global warming”



Broadsheets

• More consistent

• Before, during and after the conference

But: • Conspiracy theories & little review of real issues:

„Real subtext' to transfer jobs & prosperity fromUSA to Europe and the developing world

• Unbalanced representation of scientific

consensus:

A 'significant number of experts' deny the linkfrom human activity to climate change.



IIASA-CLIMATE CHANGE 'WILL HIT THE HUNGRY'

(BBC)

UK 'HIDING SCALE OF CLIMATE THREAT' (BBC,

Guardian, Scotsman) USINESS CHIEFS THROW WEIGHT BEHIND

KYOTO (Financial Times)

HEAT IS ON IN GREECE (BBC News)PRESERVING THE SPIRIT OF KYOTO (Financial

Times) DON'T DEBATE, DO SOMETHING ON CLIMATE

CHANGE (Financial Times)

KYOTO CENTRE BOOSTS UK DRIVE TO CURB

GREENHOUSE GASES (DETR)

What influences media portrayals?

• Need to sell newspapers

• Fit reader’s views

• Subtle differences between UK & US headlines



G8 TASK FORCE-US OPPOSES PLAN FOR CLEAN

ENERGY (NY Times) MALDIVIANS KEEP EYE ON CLIMATE CHANGE,

SEA LEVELS (NY Times) UTILITY PLANS TO PUT LIMITS ON ITS PLANTS

(NY Times, WSJ) US-SEN. MCCAIN CRITICAL OF GLOBAL WARMING

(NY Times) BUSINESS GROUPS READY FOR FIGHT OVER

ENERGY (Chicago Tribune) NUCLEAR POWER'S NEW DAY (NY Times) THE WORLD DOESN'T GET THE SCIENCE RIGHT

(LA Times)



The Media: TV news and documentaries

• More reliable?



Internet

• Powerful tool

• Be wary – little is peer-reviewed

• Internet sources least likely to contain biasand inaccuracy:

Online peer-reviewed journals (Web of Science)

Information from University websites

www.scirus.com

Government and institute websites?



• Internet sources most likely to contain bias andinaccuracy:



The SmallPrint:

A nonprofitarm of the

WesternFuels

Association



Identifying reliable internet content

• Is the author named?

• Is the author credible (trace CV & other work)

• (Use this information to reference it properly!)

• Is the information sourced properly?

• Evidence of peer-review (credits inacknowledgements, publication policy)

• Does it contradict information from othersources I know to be reliable?



Books

• Often “pre-reviewed” - book concept• Only positive reviews appear on book sleeve

• Negative reviews may abound in journals



Example: Lomborg’s The Skeptical Environmentalist

“This is one of the most valuable books on public policy -not merely on environmental policy - to have been writtenfor the intelligent reader in the past ten years… The Skeptical Environmentalist is a triumph.”

The Economist



“His account offers nothing new or insightful, and readers

would do far better to read the IPCC reports themselves andreach their own conclusions.”

Science “It is a mass of poorly digested material, deeply flawed in its

selection of examples and analysis. . . [It is] like a bad exampaper . . . The bias towards non-peer-reviewed material over

internationally reputable journals is incredible.An industry has arisen debunking this book chapter bychapter. At present, it includes a website; a series of essaysplanned for Scientific American ; a guide for journalists

documenting Lomborg's [worst] errors being assembled bythe Union of Concerned Scientists; and various publishedpamphlets. We have provided only a sampler.”

Nature



Journals

• Difference between science magazines (e.g.New Scientist & Scientific America) and peer-reviewed journals with primary research

• “Top flight” versus “up-and-coming”



Implications of different portrayals for

Science and Society

Discuss:

• What information sources influence publicopinion most?

• In a democracy, what should set governmentpolicy and spending agendas?

• Who funds most climate-related research in

Britain?• How do researcher’s prioritise their research?



Summary

You should (in theory!) now:

• Have a different attitude towards information

• Be able to better identify bias & inaccuracy andfactors leading to them

• Be able to identify all main info sources for CC &evaluate their reliability

• Understand the peer-review process, with itsbenefits and drawbacks

• Have experienced real-life examples of bias and

inaccuracy, and the factors leading to them• Be able to assess how different portrayals of climate

change may affect science and society

• Be more familiar with the assessment criteria

portrayals of climate change

Documents