The Cullen Conundrum
Andrew Freedman at CapitalWeather.com has perhaps the best comment on the whoo hah (kerflufle, todo, whatever are much too respectful) surrounding Heidi Cullen's comments on the fluffy TV weather guys:
The issue with TV meteorologists is whether the scientific society that accredits them to represent the science of meteorology to the public should certify that those science communicators have knowledge of climate science and are able to communicate this science. It would be up to the AMS to determine what climate science knowledge would be required.At the bottom...
With the designation as an AMS certified TV meteorologist comes a responsibility to understand and communicate scientific information, not politically-motivated pseudo scientific viewpoints. And that's exactly what many TV meteorologists adhere to concerning climate change.....
Secondly, and more importantly, the reaction against Cullen is an attack on the press in general, and is part of a concerted effort by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and friends to smear the media for reporting on climate change.Capital Weather is a VERY popular blog whose reason d'etre is the weather in Washington, DC. Go rtfr and think about adding them to the blogroll.
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2 comments:
"With the designation as an AMS certified TV meteorologist comes a responsibility to understand and communicate scientific information, not politically-motivated pseudo scientific viewpoints."
Same could be said for the moniker "science journalist"...but as we all know, some of them seem to love the mumbo jumbo (speculation, etc) as much as everyone else.
If Inhofe does not attack the press, then I'll be glad to do it for him (though I might have a slightly different tack).
On the whole, the American media have done a dismal job of educating the public on the global warming issue.
They helped to facilitate (if not create) the "Alarmist/Denialist" (two equivalent camps) dichtomy out of whole cloth and are now trying feverishly to lead us, like Moses did, out of the wilderness (that they got us lost in to begin with) -- back to the Promised Land of the "forgotten middle."
The whole thing is too absurd -- and funny -- for words.
Good design!
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