25 July, 2014

Successful response demands collaborative effort, and the truth.


Humanity’s successful response to climate change is not about winners and losers, goodies or baddies, right or wrong rather, rather it is about a collaborative effort.

Any collaborative effort warranting praise begins with telling the truth and so it was encouraging to see that The Australian had been chastised for failing in that area.

The Australian Press Council has considered a number of complaints about reporting by the national newspaper in the week leading up leading up to the release of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in September 2013.

In making its adjudication the council said: “The Council emphasises that, of course, this adjudication neither endorses nor rejects any particular theories or predictions about global warming and related issues”.

Beneath the Wisteria supporter Ian Edwards from Dicky Beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast has written to The Australian and encourages others to also tell the newspaper’s hierarchy of their displeasure.

This is what Ian wrote:

I recall as a young professional proudly holding a copy of the Australian under my arm as I strode the streets of Brisbane. “I now read the Australian. I’m on my way.” Now, I’m not so sure. To be blunt, the Australian’s coverage of climate change over the last couple of years has been disgusting: one sided, biased and factually incorrect.  This has now been recognised by the Press Council. If the Australian is incapable of journalistic integrity of such an important issue as this, what credibility does the paper and everything else it reports have?

Regards

Ian Edwards

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