The researchers were not trying to hide evidence of a decline in global temperatures over the last decade we have plenty of actual thermometer readings to show

The researchers were not trying to hide evidence of a decline in global temperatures over the last decade we have plenty of actual thermometer readings to show temperatures in recent years. What they were trying to hide was the discrepancy between actual temperature readings and the temperatures suggested by tree ring data. They have relied on tree ring data to show that the earth was cooler in the past. If the tree ring data is not reliable (as the discrepancy in recent years would suggest), then maybe the earth was actually hotter in the past than these researchers would have us believe and perhaps the hot temperatures of recent years do not represent unprecedented global warming but just natural variation in climate. Sounds reasonable (unless there's some other very solid evidence that the trees really are linked to temperature as the model says, and just nobody talks about it because everyone who knows thinks everyone else is too stupid to bother with). Now let’s see if the media can report the result in a way that is not itself misleading. It's the media, their "core competency" is writing to attract eyeballs for advertisers. I'd take that to mean they'll be (accidentally, even) misleading by default, and since they don't know more than the rest of us they won't know to correct for that.