Bishop Hill The IBT: the same, but different
Nov 13, 2013 BBC Climate: other Media ;)
The International Broadcasting Trust is an environmentalist-funded group that has tried, mostly successfully, to encourage broadcasters to become advocates for the green movement. It is best known as one of the co-hosts of the 28gate seminar. It recently issued a report on the state of green TV which can be seen here. Along the way they interviewed a number of people involved in the climate debate, including many of the usual suspects - Joe Smith, Nick Pigeon, Steve Jones, John Beddington. However, in what looks to me like a change in tack, they have also included a couple of sceptics - David Whitehouse of GWPF and Martin Durkin of Great Global Warming Swindle Fame - although the impact of the latter two is hard to discern.
They seem to be worried:
..most concerning, in the light of the importance of non-news TV in helping to inform and educate the audience, is the fact that during our year’s research we found no factual long form programme dealing head on with the issue of climate change or the growing debate about how to mitigate or adapt to it, and none dealing with another major issue, population growth. This finding raises serious questions about broadcasters’ will or ability to reflect some of the most important scientific research and policy decisions we face today.
From my perspective this is almost certainly a case of the chickens coming home to roost. The IBT set out to pervert the output of the television networks for the benefit of its backers and pretty much succeeded, as suggested by Clive Edwards, the BBC’s Commissioning Editor for TV Current Affairs,
The BBC went through a period when it was seen as a sort of zealot in the climate change debate. It backfired badly. Audiences got caught up in it too back then, but now they are not as enthusiastic.
If the audience is no longer listening to the environmentalists' message then the blame must reside squarely with the IBT, their environmentalist funders, and the broadcast journalists who dance to their tune.
The report is to be commended for addressing the question of ecoauthoritarianism in the shape of those who try to silence dissenting voices. The report quotes Dorothy Byrne of Channel Four on the subject of their documentary What the Green Movement Got Wrong:
..some environmentalists thought we should not challenge or question what they say. They also objected to some of our interviewees being on the programme as they didn’t agree with them. I found the whole experience extraordinary. It was as if I was attacking their religion.’
The BBC has also been criticised for ‘false balance’ in the climate change story, equating the sceptical point of view with mainstream opinion. This is something the BBC 'has moved on from,’ David Jordan told the select committee, though he made it clear the sceptical point of view should still be given air time.
...this report argues for a more energetic attempt by broadcasters to find that ‘something different’ that will help increase public understanding of important events that develop over time .
Reader Comments (51)
SayNoToFearmongers said:
I'm really not sure what we have to get alarmed about.
Sadly, it's the main conclusion I draw from the whole sorry fiasco of AGW that the same kind of people who came up with it will, when it goes belly up, think of some new load of nonsense to get their teeth into. It appears to be the tragedy of the twentieth century that the only thing that (for a short period) rid us of these professional worriers was a genuine disaster, World Wars 1 and 2. I'm beginning to wonder if only real cataclysms are ever what save us from such idiots.