“Not one of the fifty-five Murdoch publications examined … have been ‘good’ on local weather change” – Watts Up With That?

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Award-winning journalist Wendy Bacon is deeply disappointed that not even The Guardian seems interested in her efforts to eradicate climate heresy.

Data backs up decades of lies in Murdoch’s media coverage of climate change

By Mia Armitage
March 17, 2021

Mia Armitage and Sean O’Shannessy

If the evidence is in the pudding, and the spice is climate change, it can leave a bitter taste: after all, it’s no surprise to learn that data show Murdoch’s media bias.

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Renowned Walkley-winning investigative journalist Wendy Bacon delivered the goods and has published similar but smaller studies since the turn of the millennium.

For her latest work, she led a team of more than twenty trained volunteers on a mission that followed decades of headlines, opinion pieces, columns, news articles and letters from across Australia through Murdoch media.

The results show that for more than two decades, 45 percent of Murdoch’s media coverage and references in the media have been at least skeptical or, in the worst case, completely denied the phenomenon that is happening all around us.

Wendy Bacon said none of the fifty-five Murdoch publications examined at any given time were “good” at reporting on climate change, but the worst was The Daily Telegraph, traditionally aimed at Sydney.

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The importance of their findings has been undermined by mainstream media coverage, Ms Bacon said.

“It is greeted almost in silence, not a word in the ABC about it,” she said, “not even the guard, and that was disappointing.”

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Read more: https://www.echo.net.au/2021/03/data-proves-decades-of-lies-in-murdoch-media-climate-change-coverage/

Wendy’s research is available here. From their research work;

• The total of the relevant items was 8,612. (Section 4.1).
• Almost half of all articles (44%) were in The Australian. (Section 4.1).
• Information-based reporting (news and features) was 38% (Section 4.2). Almost two-thirds (62%) of the coverage was comments (editorials, opinions and letters). The strong influence of comments on the overall message on climate change is evident both in terms of volume and in terms of the sowing and design of ideas and analyzes.
• All four News Corp publications produce significant amounts of material that is skeptical of climate science findings. Overall, 45% of all points rejected or doubted consensus scientific results. (Section 4.5).
• The Daily Telegraph is the News Corp.’s most skeptical publication, with 58% of its content dealing with climate change being skeptical (Section 4.5).
• Most News Corp reporters do not actively promote skeptical views. The report (news and features) was less skeptical than the comments (editorials, opinions and letters), with 89% of the reports accepting climate science findings. (Section 4.5).
• Comments (editorials, opinions, and letters) created skepticism in all News Corp publications. Almost two thirds (65%) of the opinions expressed were skeptical of climate science (Section 4.5).
• Out of a total of 2,309 opinion articles, the ten best opinion writers made up 44% of the content. All of these opinion-writers are either skeptics of climate change, encourage skepticism in their articles or have a negative view of climate protection measures / efforts. The top 5 were Andrew Bolt, Tim Blair, Peta Credlin, Peter Gleeson, and Chris Kenny, who are all occasional or regular Sky News presenters. (Section 5).

The Guardian may not have been able to properly publicize these efforts to eradicate climate heresy, but it can never be said that WUWT is ignoring Wendy Bacon’s caliber research.

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