Taehyun Kim, Ph.D. Assistant ProfessorTaehyun Kim, Ph.D. Assistant ProfessorCSUN Journalism DepartmentCSUN Journalism Department

False Sense of Balance: False Sense of Balance: American Media and Public American Media and Public

(mis)Understanding of Science (mis)Understanding of Science of Global Warmingof Global Warming

Public Opinion PollsPublic Opinion Polls

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

www.people-press.org

June 14-19, 2006 (n=1,501) +/-3

20% 70%Americans said there is no

solid evidence of global warming

there is solid evidence that the earth's average

temperature is rising

41% 21%Global Warming is due to

human activities due to natural patterns in the earth's environment

2007 poll2007 poll

71%Global Warming Believers

48%Believe that there is

consensus among the scientific community

A Yale University / Gallup / ClearVision Institute Poll July 23-26, 2007(n=1,011) ±4

57% 12% 29%Global warming is caused mainly by human activities

caused equally by humans and natural changes

mostly by natural changes

• American public’s Global Warming Grade Report Card: C

• False Sense of Balance exacerbate misunderstanding of science of global warming.

Journalistic Balance?Journalistic Balance?

• Journalists are ordinary citizen’s watchdogs– They warn the publics about the dangers

around them so that they can take necessary actions.

• Journalists must pursue unbiased truthful information

• But journalists are rarely in a position to determine absolute truth (disaster, murder, politics or business news…)

• If a reporter cannot determine what’s true, what do they do instead? – Quotation and Attribution… Faithfully capture

the meaning and intent of the source; let the source face the consequences

– Maintain Balance or even-handed approach• Interview representatives of all the sides involved,

then include as many opinions as possible.• We report, you decide; Truth is in here somewhere

Balancing = accuracy?Balancing = accuracy?

• Yes, if there are two or more equal counterparts.– Anecdotal story, good guy vs. bad guy, micro-

individual level

• No, when it comes to complex macro-level controversies like global warming

• “False sense of balance”– Error by taking “even-handed, balanced”

approach when there are overwhelming majority and vocal minority opinion.

UUnintended consequencesnintended consequences

• Through "balanced" coverage of global warming, the US media have under-represented IPCC's consensus on the human contributions to global warming and over-represented global warming skeptics views.

• “Illusion of scientific uncertainty” American public still have doubts about science of global warming

• Thereby providing space for politicians to call for "more research" before tinkering with the status-quo consumption of fossil fuels.

• 8 years of Inaction=Victory for Global Warming Skeptics and fossil-fuel lobby

Call for New ParadigmCall for New Paradigm

• Risk Society (Ulrich Beck): – Global Warming poses significant cognitive

burden on individuals to perceive unprecedented global scale risks.

• Thus, media play increasingly vital role in informing people about ubiquity of risk.

• New paradigm: Real balance, reflecting the weight of opinion within the scientific community, instead of simplistic dueling scientist scenario

• True watchdog journalism

Required ReadingRequired Reading

• Ross Gelbspan, “The Heat Is On” and “Boiling Point”• Boykoff and Boykoff, July 2004 "Balance as Bias: Global

Warming and the U.S. Prestige Press” Global Environmental Change

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis

maintain their neutrality"

Thanks!

• NASA James Hansen's 1988 testimony to the U.S. Congress– "99 percent certain" that warmer temperatures were caused by the

burning of fossil fuels and not solely a result of natural variation and that "it is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here."

• On the other hand, some skeptical meteorologists and analysts assert that global warming reflects a natural cycle of temperature fluctuation and cannot be decisively tied to human actions. "As far as we are concerned, there's no evidence for global warming, and by the year 2000 the man-made greenhouse theory will probably be regarded as the biggest scientific gaffe of the century," Piers Corbyn, an astrophysicist at London's Weather Action forecasting organization, told the Reuters news agency. --1995 Washington Post article (3/28/95)

Powerful Elites GroupsPowerful Elites Groups

• Fossil-fuel industries launched deceptive campaigns to confuse the public and policymakers on the issue.

• “Confusion is intentional, expensively gift wrapped by the energy industries.”

• Fostering doubt is a well known public relations tactic.

• Inaction = victory

Fossil-fuel LobbyFossil-fuel Lobby

• Tactics: People generally do not favor action on a non-alarming situation when arguments “appear” to be balanced on both sides, e.g. “Dueling Scientist Scenario”

• They have used lobby groups, public relations firms and conservative think-tanks

• They attempt to cast doubt on predictions of global warming and its impacts

Anti-Kyoto LobbyingAnti-Kyoto Lobbying

• Consortium of 20 organizations representing oil, coal and other fossil fuel interests spent an estimated $13 million on television, newspaper and radio advertising.

• Its target: "older, less-educated males from larger households who are not typically active information seekers"

More Anti-Kyoto Lobby GroupsMore Anti-Kyoto Lobby Groups

• The Coalition for Vehicle Choice– Ford, GM and Chrysler.

• The US National Coal Association spent $700,000 (1992/93).

• The American Petroleum Institute– BP Oil, Shell, Chevron and Exxon paid PR-firm

Burson-Marsteller $1.8 million (1993).

• The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC)– 3M, Amoco, Chevron, Dow Chemical, Exxon, Philip

Morris, Procter and Gamble and General Motors.