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How exactly is media pressure influencing climate science? Most of the foundational research was done long before climate change was being discussed in the medi

How exactly is media pressure influencing climate science? Most of the foundational research was done long before climate change was being discussed in the media. And as far as I am aware, the media continues to have zero influence in how NSF grants are awarded. Another fun fact, Fox News, a nakedly partisan cable network that adamantly denies the existence of climate change is the most watched channel on cable TV. They just recently hit their highest viewership[1]. And the President of the United States has been known to set his policy priorities based on things he sees on Fox News. So who's influence should we be worried about? In the spirit of acknowledging potential sources of bias and influence that originally started this thread, I will acknowledge that the "mainstream media" occasionally gets it wrong and does have a tendency to sensationalize stories about climate change. But I would like you to acknowledge that the "other mainstream media"[2] like Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting Group are just as bad (if not worse), and are just as powerful and influential (if not more so) as their counterparts in the "mainstream media". [1]https://www.axios.com/fox-news-record-ratings-2019-msnbc-cnn-edf57104-7678-4b38-bd62-ba2ae9d7127c.html https://www.axios.com/fox-news-record-ratings-2019-msnbc-cnn... [2] Calling it "right wing media" does disservice to the fact that these media outlets likely have more collective viewership and readership than the "mainstream" outlets.

Udik 7y ago
> How exactly is media pressure influencing climate science? Exactly through the same mechanism that skewed Alzheimer's research. Some topics are "hotter" and scientists know that to obtain grants, be published, and attract unspecialised media attention they better mention climate change in their articles and possibly highlight some major consequence (even with qualifiers as "may", "could" etc.). This stuff is then picked up by mainstream media and spread to a much larger public, making the topic even hotter. Finally, scientists are a subset of the mainstream media consumers, and might not be much better than the average public outside their domain of expertise. So they are likely to be influenced by sensationalistic reporting outside their field. (For example, a physicist cannot evaluate the soundness of an economic study on the consequences of climate change- but might be influenced by it when deciding grants or publication worthiness of something related to his field). > Most of the foundational research was done long before climate change was being discussed in the media. The foundational research is tiny compared to the mass of research on the myriad consequences of climate change. And the effects are what concern us. > Fox News, a nakedly partisan cable network that adamantly denies the existence of climate change Yes, Fox News. I am European, I have never watched a single minute of Fox News. I can assure you that almost all news outlets I follow just love to publish news about climate change, the scarier the better. The situation of the US might be different- on the other hand last time I checked 40% of Americans believed in creationism, so maybe the US public opinion and media are not a good sample.
- qqqwerty 7y ago
  In the case of the Alzheimer 'cabal', there was a large minority of researchers that were being locked out of funding by the cabal. Can you point to a single credible climate science researcher that has contrarian views on the consensus and also lacks access to funding for research? As mentioned in another post, the oil industry is very wealthy and is spending large sums of money in this domain. So while there are plenty of contrarians, I highly doubt the credible ones are having any issues with funding. Whether you realize it or not, you are making some fairly extraordinary claims. While the academic world is subject to politicking and influence like any other domain, it tends to get things right in the long run. If your issue is with media over sensationalizing climate change headlines, well that is a separate issue, and quite frankly seems like nitpicking considering how little progress we have made in solving the problem and how dire the consequences can potentially be.
  - Udik 7y ago
    > In the case of the Alzheimer 'cabal', there was a large minority of researchers that were being locked out of funding by the cabal I think the most important thing here is to remember that the term 'cabal' is completely improper. The article this thread is about says explicitly that "despite being described as a “cabal,” the amyloid camp was neither organized nor nefarious". So what happened is just the result of an un-organised majority of scientists applying a selective pressure on the type of research that was funded and published, often without even realising it. This effect is always a risk in science. There isn't hotter topic in science, politics and information today of climate change, and I don't need to produce any example of scientists who were "locked out" to be certain that the effect is strong in the field. This article might give you an idea of the most extreme example (for which the term 'cabal' might even be appropriate): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/02/hacked-climate-emails-flaws-peer-review https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/02/hacked-c... But most of the pressure is probably implicit: everyone wants their research to be sexy, and there's nothing sexier than linking the hottest topic of the time and pointing to some coming existential threat. Scientist do it all the time, no nefarious intentions but it's part of the game. Finally, you seem to have a very restrictive idea of climate change science. There's a pretty much established physical base to it, but the quantification and consequences concern a myriad different disciplines: from statistics to botanic, ecology, ethology, economics, medicine, social sciences, agricultural sciences, engineering, etc. These offer enormous space for speculation about the future, with results that are much less solid than those of the physical foundations.

Udik 7y ago

> How exactly is media pressure influencing climate science? Exactly through the same mechanism that skewed Alzheimer's research. Some topics are "hotter" and scientists know that to obtain grants, be published, and attract unspecialised media attention they better mention climate change in their articles and possibly highlight some major consequence (even with qualifiers as "may", "could" etc.). This stuff is then picked up by mainstream media and spread to a much larger public, making the topic even hotter. Finally, scientists are a subset of the mainstream media consumers, and might not be much better than the average public outside their domain of expertise. So they are likely to be influenced by sensationalistic reporting outside their field. (For example, a physicist cannot evaluate the soundness of an economic study on the consequences of climate change- but might be influenced by it when deciding grants or publication worthiness of something related to his field). > Most of the foundational research was done long before climate change was being discussed in the media. The foundational research is tiny compared to the mass of research on the myriad consequences of climate change. And the effects are what concern us. > Fox News, a nakedly partisan cable network that adamantly denies the existence of climate change Yes, Fox News. I am European, I have never watched a single minute of Fox News. I can assure you that almost all news outlets I follow just love to publish news about climate change, the scarier the better. The situation of the US might be different- on the other hand last time I checked 40% of Americans believed in creationism, so maybe the US public opinion and media are not a good sample.

qqqwerty 7y ago
In the case of the Alzheimer 'cabal', there was a large minority of researchers that were being locked out of funding by the cabal. Can you point to a single credible climate science researcher that has contrarian views on the consensus and also lacks access to funding for research? As mentioned in another post, the oil industry is very wealthy and is spending large sums of money in this domain. So while there are plenty of contrarians, I highly doubt the credible ones are having any issues with funding. Whether you realize it or not, you are making some fairly extraordinary claims. While the academic world is subject to politicking and influence like any other domain, it tends to get things right in the long run. If your issue is with media over sensationalizing climate change headlines, well that is a separate issue, and quite frankly seems like nitpicking considering how little progress we have made in solving the problem and how dire the consequences can potentially be.
- Udik 7y ago
  > In the case of the Alzheimer 'cabal', there was a large minority of researchers that were being locked out of funding by the cabal I think the most important thing here is to remember that the term 'cabal' is completely improper. The article this thread is about says explicitly that "despite being described as a “cabal,” the amyloid camp was neither organized nor nefarious". So what happened is just the result of an un-organised majority of scientists applying a selective pressure on the type of research that was funded and published, often without even realising it. This effect is always a risk in science. There isn't hotter topic in science, politics and information today of climate change, and I don't need to produce any example of scientists who were "locked out" to be certain that the effect is strong in the field. This article might give you an idea of the most extreme example (for which the term 'cabal' might even be appropriate): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/02/hacked-climate-emails-flaws-peer-review https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/02/hacked-c... But most of the pressure is probably implicit: everyone wants their research to be sexy, and there's nothing sexier than linking the hottest topic of the time and pointing to some coming existential threat. Scientist do it all the time, no nefarious intentions but it's part of the game. Finally, you seem to have a very restrictive idea of climate change science. There's a pretty much established physical base to it, but the quantification and consequences concern a myriad different disciplines: from statistics to botanic, ecology, ethology, economics, medicine, social sciences, agricultural sciences, engineering, etc. These offer enormous space for speculation about the future, with results that are much less solid than those of the physical foundations.