George Will’s Carbon Power Brokers stands in a long-line of examples of The Washington Post giving space to global warming denial disinformation. How bad was this one? Bad enough that one of the cited sources had to step up to respond to Will’s distortion on a holiday. Will wrote
As global levels of sea ice declined last year, many experts said this was evidence of man-made global warming. Since September, however, the increase in sea ice has been the fastest change, either up or down, since 1979, when satellite record-keeping began. According to the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.
The Arctic Climate Research Center [9 April 09 CORRECTION: There is no such institution. I regret repeating George Will’s error] wrote
February 15, 2009
In an opinion piece by George Will published on February 15, 2009 in the Washington Post, George Will states “According to the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.”
We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979. This decrease in sea ice area is roughly equal to the area of Texas, California, and Oklahoma combined.
It is disturbing that The Washington Post would publish such information without first checking the facts.
It is well past time for The Washington Post to apply fact-checking to its opinion pieces. More importantly, considering the state of the science and the long (documented) record of how poor media reporting is creating the false impression of a serious debate within the scientific community, even more serious standards should apply.
Will selectively quoting and misstated throughout this oped, sowing confusion on what is likely the most critical issue for the American Republic (and humanity) for the 21st Century. This is not the first Washington Post OPED of this vein. While perhaps beyond hope, we can wish it will be the last.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Will-ful Deceit: three blunt examples // Feb 21, 2009 at 11:30 pm
[…] And, the ACRC actually chose to post a direct rebuttal to George’s claims, calling them false. […]
2 The Will Affair … struggling to keep up // Mar 5, 2009 at 11:34 am
[…] Will-ful Deception = No Fact Checking, 16 Feb 09, pointing to statement by UIUC Arctic Ice Center. […]