On leave

Slower posting over the next few months. If you find an error in an ABC news report use the ABC's online form to let them know.
If you are looking for something to read we recommend the following:
Groupthink, Sensationalism, Naive and Inept Journalism: Climate coverage at the ABC.
Kingsley Amis stated “Laziness has become the chief characteristic of journalism, displacing incompetence”. It’s vice-versa at the ABC.
Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Cherry Picking the science
Part 3 Putting faith in authority
Part 4 Making Mistakes

Worst radio interview ever?

We posted on The Science Show's woeful interview with Bob Ward earlier this week. Quadrant Online have now put up an essay on the issue by Tom Harris titled "ABC fails listeners" that is definitely worth reading.
It begins..."What’s the worst radio interview ever conducted on climate change? Could it be Australian? 

Maybe so. ABC radio’s Robyn Williams’ October 2, 2010 interview of UK-based public relations director Bob Ward is certainly a contender for the worldwide gold medal in the ‘worse ever’ category.  The interview, broadcast on the nationally prestigious Science Show, is so bad that listeners don’t need to actually know anything about climate science to spot the most obvious flaws. "

Read the rest at Quadrant Online

Update: See also comments at Bishop Hill: "Bob Ward's efforts to smear absolutely everyone who disagrees with his position on climate change continues apace, with a shameful attackon Bob Carter on ABC radio in Australia."

Melting Pole Ice threat to ports

In a story titled "Arctic sea ice predicted to disappear" ABC's World Today program reported on predictions by US Scientists that the Arctic will be ice free in summer in 20 to 30 years time. Of course it's not the first time such claims have been made, and we suspect it won't be the last. Here's a report from 1952 on the same theme, prior to the advent of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.

The Mercury  Monday 18 February 1952

See also The Arctic is Melting says Scientist
The Argus 31 May 1947

"A mysterious warming of the Arctic climate is slowly manifesting itself"

Secrets of the North Sea

The Argus 5 February, 1949

"In Greenland, he said, increased temperatures had be-come particularly noticeable."

Warmer Arctic Climate May Raise Ocean Levels

The Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 31 May 1947

"The Arctic change is so serious that I hope an international agency can 

speedily be formed to study conditions on a global basis"

World Weather Hotter, Says Scientist

The Sunday Herald Sunday 21 May 1950

The director of the Museum of Technology and Applied Science, Mr. A. R. Penfold,said yesterday that Sydney was becoming a hotter place to live in.
"The whole world's weather is taking a turn for the better," he said.
"This has been going on for100 years, but the change has
been most marked in the last two decades.

From the vault - getting it upside down on death rate

Australia’s population

Friday, July 24 2009, PM

On July 22, 2009, in a story about Australia’s growing population, the ABC incorrectly reported that Professor Peter McDonald, Director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Australian National University, said the biggest change affecting future growth in Australia as its population ages will be a declining birth rate. In fact, Professor McDonald told the ABC the biggest change affecting growth will be a rise in deaths.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/corrections/archive/months/2009%20Archive%20Month_July2009.htm
"From the Vault" - digging up past corrections and clarifications from the ABC archives

Slander on the Science show

ABC's Science Show Saturday 2 October 2010 featured an interview between presenter Robyn Williams and Bob Ward under the title “Sceptics’ publishing record on climate”. The interview aired Bob Ward’s views about the quality of scientific research by internationally respected scientists Richard Lindzen, Robert Carter and Ian Plimer.

How does the ABC justify allowing Mr Ward time on The Science Show to provide an evaluation of the scientific work of Lindzen, Carter and Plimer when apparently Mr Ward, a Public Relations director, is not a working climate scientist, has no qualifications in climate science, and has no record of peer reviewed publications in academic scientific journals on climate science.  The interview misrepresented the publishing record of Lindzen, Carter and Plimer who all have long records of academic publishing in the peer reviewed academic science literature. No statement about Mr Ward's apparent lack of expertise or political bias in the area of climate science was provided by presenter Robyn Williams, misleading ABC's audience. The obvious hypocrisy of Mr Ward's argument was not challenged by Robyn Williams. A piece on The Drum might be appropriate, but space on The Science Show gives unwarranted credence to Ward's spurious opinions.

While the ABC provided an opportunity for Bob Carter to respond to the allegations made in the interview, it seems no such opportunity was provided for either Richard Lindzen or Ian Plimer to respond to statements made by Bob Ward, left unchallenged by Robyn Williams. As such this piece lacks balance and contravenes ABC editorial policy.

It appears the ABC, The Science Show, Bob Ward and Robyn Williams owe an apology to those it has slandered.

Here's what Roger Pielke Jnr recently had to say about Bob Ward in a post titled Empty debate and climate attack dogs: "Ward's frequent efforts to reduce debate over climate change to tabloid-style mud wrestling is symptomatic of a debate that has lost touch with what matters.  It is remarkable to me that an institution of higher learning such as LSE would hire a spin doctor to systematically engage in attacking reputations across the blogoosphere and letter pages of newspapers.  "

Once again ABC's audience is left in the dark.

Complaint handling undertaken very badly by the ABC

An excellent article looking at the future of the ABC in today's Australian Newspaper, by former ABC deputy Chairwoman Judith Sloan. Aunty suddenly fills the air, and it's a real shame
We thought this passage was particularly relevant to us here at ABC NEWS WATCH:

"Complaint handling was an area undertaken very badly by the ABC and always in a self-serving manner.
The board would be regularly informed that a very high proportions of complaints had been investigated and rejected - often more than 90 per cent.
The complaint-handling process has all the usual hallmarks of a self-satisfied organisation: treat the complainant as a dimwit using a patronising tone; refer obliquely to the matter raised but respond that all approaches to journalism are equally acceptable; assure the complainant that the matter has been thoroughly investigated; and quote the internet address of the editorial guidelines for the complainant's edification.
It is not surprising that this approach yields very high rejection rates. The complaints that are accepted are almost always trivial and refer to some factual error made by a journalist."

Missing News: Climate Change Conference in Sydney

Missing News: No word on Auntie thus far about a Climate Change Conference held in Sydney today.
Speakers included:
Chris de Freitas: Developments in Climate Science: Potential Drivers of Emissions Policy Beyond 2012
Robert Carter: The Reconstruction of Past Sea-Level Change: Policy Implications
Senator Cory Bernardi: The Political State of Play of Climate Change Policy in Australia
David Evans: Is the Western Climate Establishment Corrupt?
Alan Moran: Lower CO2 Levels: Costs, Benefits and Possibilities
Barun S. Mitra: How Domestic Politics cools Global Warming
Joanne Nova: Defeating the Witchdoctors of the Twenty-First Century and Why Global Warming Is About Power, Money, and Sex

We wonder if Auntie's cadre of Groupthinking reporters were frightened off by the prospect of being enlightened by a few facts that would overturn the ABC apple cart.