A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Climate scientists often berate journalists for producing misleading articles about their work, but sometimes the research community should share the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-21T20:11:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\\\/\",\"name\":\"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-15T17:08:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-21T20:11:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news\\\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News & commentaries\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news-and-commentary\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Commentary\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/news-category\\\/20-commentary\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/\",\"name\":\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"description\":\"The Grantham Research Institute at LSE carries out world-class research on climate change and the environment.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","og_description":"Climate scientists often berate journalists for producing misleading articles about their work, but sometimes the research community should share the...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/","og_site_name":"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","article_modified_time":"2017-07-21T20:11:50+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/","name":"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-15T17:08:30+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-21T20:11:50+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News & commentaries","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news-and-commentary\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Commentary","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news-category\/20-commentary\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/","name":"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","description":"The Grantham Research Institute at LSE carries out world-class research on climate change and the environment.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":["climate scientists","credibility","media coverage"],"news-category":["Commentary"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4427"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=4427"},{"taxonomy":"topic_area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic_area?post=4427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":4427,"date":"2011-07-15T17:08:30","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T17:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=news&p=4427"},"modified":"2017-07-21T21:11:50","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T20:11:50","slug":"a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/news\/a-media-relations-mistake-and-inaccurate-reporting-about-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"A media relations mistake and inaccurate reporting about climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Climate scientists often berate journalists for producing misleading articles about their work, but sometimes the research community should share the blame for inaccurate coverage.<\/p>\n

For instance, take the media reports of a scientific paper

The authors of the paper, led by Professor Robert Kaufmann of Boston University, pointed out that “data for global surface temperature indicate little warming between 1998 and 2008”, citing the record compiled by Professor Phil Jones and colleagues at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia.<\/p>\n

These research findings were widely reported in the UK media, and most newspapers, such as ‘The Guardian’

Not so the ‘Daily Mail’ and the ‘Daily Express’.<\/p>\n

An opinion piece about the research paper in the ‘Daily Mail’ by Christopher Booker

Booker claimed: “The latest news is that the world may be threatened by a sharp drop in temperatures, possibly so severe that it could herald a new mini ice age”. Bizarrely, the ‘Daily Mail’ had the previous day published a short news story about the same journal paper

The headline of the report in the ‘Daily Express’

The news report was picked up by its leading article

So why did the ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘Daily Express’ make such claims when nowhere in the scientific paper do the authors state that the Earth cooled between 1998 and 2008?<\/p>\n

Are these just the latest examples of the campaigns being conducted by these newspapers to present their readers with a distorted picture of the evidence for climate change? In this case, however, they are not entirely to blame.<\/p>\n

The press office of the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ distributed a media release

Although the scientific paper does not mention any decline in temperature, the journal’s press office has confirmed in an e-mail to me that the media release was approved by the paper’s authors before its distribution to journalists. And so both they and the journal’s press office share some responsibility for the inaccurate coverage by the ‘Daily Express’ and ‘Daily Mail’.<\/p>\n

For the record, the CRU temperature data for the period between 1998 and 2008

Indeed, as Professor Jones pointed out recently in a BBC interview

On shorter timescales, the noise created by short-term fluctuations in the annual temperature of the Earth obscure the underlying signal due to global warming, a fact that is often exploited by self-proclaimed ‘sceptics’ who like to claim that the Earth has been cooling since 1998

While journalists should indeed be alert to the statistical shenanigans of the so-called ‘sceptics’, it is clear that they also need to be wary of the sloppy outreach efforts of climate researchers and academic journals.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n