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NYTimes’ Revkin names some names

February 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments

George Will’s blatantly mendacious OPED this morning, Climate Science in A Tornado, not only insults the entire New York Times by, in essence, with Will calling The NYTimes a den of prostitution, it also lays down a direct challenge to NY Times science writer Andy Revkin to name names from Revkin’s recent “news analysis” complimenting George Will by falsely balancing his mendacity with Vice President Al Gore’s removing one slide from his 400+ slide presentation on global warming and climate change. Rather than complimented, Will is outraged.

On Wednesday, the Times carried a “news analysis” — a story in the paper’s news section, but one that was not just reporting news — accusing Al Gore and this columnist of inaccuracies. Gore can speak for himself. So can this columnist.

And, in that outrage, Will challenges Revkin’s basic journalistic ethics and capabilities.

returns us to Revkin. In a story ostensibly about journalism, he simply asserts — how does he know this? — that the last decade, which passed without warming, was just “a pause in warming.”

Yes, Andy, “how do you know this”? Is it because science and the scientific institutions that Will’s misrepresents tell you so? Hmmm … perhaps this is an issue that you should clear up as, otherwise, you stand directly accused and, for Will’s readership, convicted of creating statements out of whole cloth.

Revkin reported that “experts said” this columnist’s intervention in the climate debate was “riddled with” inaccuracies. Revkin’s supposed experts might exist and might have expertise but they do not have names that Revkin wished to divulge.

According to Will, it will seem to Washington Post and syndicated publication readers that Revkin is using ‘anonymity’ to cover up an absence of actual experts who question or challenge Will’s work.

Hmmm, Andy, perhaps this is an issue that you should clear up as, otherwise, you stand directly accused and, for Will’s readership, convicted of using anonymous sources to cover up that you don’t have anyone credible willing to question George F Will’s veracity.

George Will has, in The Washington Post and to hundreds of other newspapers in The Washington Post Writers Group, accused The New York Times and Times reporter Andy Revkin of being unprofessional and, in essence, journalistic hacks. Is this an accusation that will stand unanswered?

NOTE / UPDATE: Andrew Revkin put up Experts: Big Flaw in Will’s Ice Assertions as I wrote this piece. (I checked dot Earth prior to writing, failed to check before publishing. Mea culpa.) In this, Revkin names quite a few names. Interestingly, Revkin limits himself solely to ice extent issues and does not address the myriad of other false and/or disingenuous comments in Will’s writing. Even so, I’d say score one for Andy Revkin. Question, of course, is whether Will and Hiatt will notice anything that doesn’t appear in actual newsprint.

Tags: journalism

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