DBCDE confirm ABC's chamber of secrets closed for view

COMMENT: We received the following letter from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy confirming ABC's chamber of secrets remains locked from public scrutiny thanks to current FOI legislation. This followed our request to obtain "correspondence, electronic (emails) and otherwise in connection to the production of the ABC website " A journey through Climate History", including commissioning instructions and comments on initial versions." See "FOI request for climate time line emails-request denied."
Based on replies to our complaints so far, it is clear that ABC's self regulation is failing and ABC is suffering from a severe case of "confirmation bias" especially in its reporting on climate change. Opening that box of secrets will require a change in legislation. ABC NEWSWATCH will lobby parliament for the necessary changes that will see proper scrutiny of the way ABC expends public resources.

Missing News: Circling the Bandwagons-IPCC temperature data refuted

COMMENT: We wonder whether there is a reporter at the ABC unaffected by the organisation's affliction of "Confirmation Bias" when it comes to matters Climate Change. If so perhaps they will take a look at Prof. Ross McKitrick's detailed description of how his paper refuting IPCC claims that its global temperature data set are free of inhomogeneities found its way to publication in the journal "Statistics, Politics and Policy".

From the Abstract:

I am taking this story public because of what it reveals about the journal peer review process in the field of climatology. Whether climatologists like it or not, the general public has taken a large and legitimate interest in how the peer review process for climatology journals works, because they have been told for years that they will have to face lots of new taxes and charges and fees and regulations because of what has been printed in climatology journals. Because of the policy stakes, a bent peer review process is no longer a private matter to be sorted out among academic specialists. And to the extent the specialists are unable or unwilling to fix the process, they cannot complain that the public credibility of their discipline suffers.

The full paper can be found HERE, and Roger Pielke Jr's report on it HERE.

Update: ABC deny error in reporting on Mann inquiry

COMMENT: We have received a reply to our complaint "Mann report makes mistake and fails to ask the tough questions"
In our complaint we raised the following points:
1. Factual error in reporting the emails by Michael Mann examined by the University
2. Lack of query. The report fails to tackle questions raised that the Penn State's inquiry into Dr Mann was open to bias.

ABC's reply only deals with the first point and here they claim:

"Having reviewed the report, Audience and Consumer Affairs is satisfied that it would be patently clear to its audience that the sentence“The University looked through all of Dr Mann's email correspondences in making its findings” referred to the emails relevant to their inquiry and did not mean every email Dr Mann had ever written.  The context in which the sentence was published was sufficiently clear and there is no breach of the ABC’s editorial standards."

As we are not satisfied with this effort, we have requested that this complaint be forwarded to the ABC Complaints Review Executive. 

The full reply is posted with the original-link above.

Update: Missing News: No change in Global Tropical storm days due to Global Warming - Report

COMMENT: ABC have provided a reply to our complaint about not reporting a recent paper published in the peer reviewed Journal, Geophysical Research Letters. The paper was: Wang, B., Y. Yang, Q.-H. Ding, H. Murakami, and F. Huang. Climate Control of the Global Tropical Storm Days (1965-2008) Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2010GL042487, in press (accepted 9 March 2010).
In the abstract this article reports: "However, the global total number of storm days shows no trend and only an unexpected large amplitude fluctuation driven by El Niño-Southern Oscillation and PDO. The rising temperature of about 0.5oC in the tropics so far has not yet affected the global tropical storm days."found that , finds that "The rising temperature of about 0.5oC in the tropics so far has not yet affected the global tropical storm days."


ABC suggest that their report on the Nature article by Knutson et al (see HERE) covers the same ground!
When your global warming reporting is so affected by "confirmation bias" as the ABC's I guess its hard to see the difference even when it's black and white.
ABC's response is posted with the original complaint HERE.

From the vault - Easter Friday, Saturday

Happy Chocolate Fest! Back next week


774 ABC Melbourne - Mornings 25 March 2005
The complaint
A listener complained that a presenter referred to Good Friday as Easter Friday.
Finding
The ABC acknowledged the error and agreed that there is no such thing as Easter Friday.
PUBLIC REPORT ON AUDIENCE COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS APRIL – JUNE 2005


Radio National – Saturday Extra 6 May 2006
The complaint
A listener complained that the program’s host incorrectly stated that the 15 April 2006 was “Easter Saturday”. The listener pointed out that the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is called “Easter Eve”.
Finding
The ABC agreed that this was incorrect.

PUBLIC REPORT ON AUDIENCE COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS APRIL – JUNE 2006




"From the Vault" - digging up past corrections and clarifications from the ABC archives.

From the vault - any Catholics left at the ABC?

Good Friday

Monday, April 27 2009, ABC TV News

During the 7pm news bulletin and 6pm news update on April 10, 2009, in a story about Good Friday services, the ABC incorrectly referred to Cardinal George Pell as the ‘head of the Catholic Church’ and the ‘head of Australia's Catholic Church’. In fact Cardinal George Pell is the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney.



Comment: I guess there are few Catholics left at ABC News!


http://www.abc.net.au/news/corrections/archive/months/2009%20Archive%20Month_April2009.htm


"From the Vault" - digging up past corrections and clarifications from the ABC archives

Ground breaking Documentary: Examining GROUPTHINK at ABC

A groundbreaking  documentary is now available on your ABC of all places!
Examining GROUPTHINK at ABC. 
Dedicated to ABC Chairman Maurice Newman: a brave whistle, blowing bubbles through Aunties' Group Think culture.