Public Confused About Climate Change? It’s Everybody’s Fault But the Media’s

See on Scoop.it – Global Consensus

The New York Times reports on the new American Association for the Advancement of Science report on climate change, and wonders whether it will make any difference. Reporter Justin Gillis notes that, “because so many people are confused about the science, the nation has never really had a frank political discussion about the options.” 

So public misperceptions about the reality and severity of climate change aren’t just the fault of the fossil-fuel industry – scientists are also to blame,  for being too nuanced. In any case, it certainly isn’t the fault of the media who for so long pretended (and often still pretend) that those two groups’ opinions are of equal validity. Nor is it the media’s fault that there’s never been a national discussion about solutions to climate change–how could they engage in such a thing, when people are just so confused?

– Julie Hollar is the managing editor of FAIR’s magazine, Extra!.

Daniel LaLiberte‘s insight:

A large and growing majority of the public *do* know the truth about climate change, despite the media being unfairly balanced about the issues.  People *do* want action more than the media has reported, and more than pursued by government, owned and operated, as it is, largely by the same wealthy powers that run the media.

See on www.commondreams.org