Who's Ho?

Credit Ho New (Reuters) 

Screen shot of the offending item taken from ABC Environment's Site 25/10/2011

We have had some fun with ABC environment's woeful attempt to automatically link news headlines to stock images (see this effort for instance), however this time the incompetence relates to attribution of a photo in an opinion piece on its website (shown above).

The correct attribution is shown below in an article from MSNBC. As to who "Ho New" is, we asked Reuters and they indicated the Ho refers to "Handout".

Attribution of MSNBC article reads "Dennis Sarrazin  /  ArcticNet/Centre d'Etudes Nordiques"

You can see more amazing photos by Dennis Sarrazin at his page at the Centre d'Etudes Nordiques. The photo ABC incorrectly credited to a "Handout" from Reuters was taken in on the 20/08/2008 and shows Disraeli fjord, Ellesmere Island, Northern Canada. In Dennis Sarrazin's slideshow it's about the 20th photo in.

In regard to the content of the op ed piece, if you look up "Alarmist" in the dictionary it now simply shows a Lissajous curve. In regard to its author, based on a recent critique by Roger Pielke Jnr, I believe the label "cherry picker" is appropriate.

Update from Reuters received 29/10/2011:
Thanks for the note, and sorry for the delay. The HO is actually an internal code which is added to a picture when its put into our archive. It most likely was a technical glitch.


No, just ABC incompetence.

ABC Environment mutilate wallabies

Image mix up - Animal Special

Slow posting this month, so here's a selection of recent mixed messages from ABC Environment to make up for it. Add your own commentary!

 

 

   

 

New Dolphin Species!

ABC Environment report on the discovery of a new species of dolphin in Victoria...

Can anyone suggest a name for the new beastie? Yertle, perhaps?
I guess that image problem left in the too hard basket.

working on a solution

Seems ABC innovation are still working hard, battling those image problems on the ABC's environment news page...

We initially advised ABC of the issue on the 4th of April. According to those in the know..."ABC Innovation has advised that stories from across the ABC that are filed with no image are randomly assigned an image on the Environment portal from a pool of images. I understand relevant ABC Innovation staff are aware of the discordant match-ups that this system has produced and have been working on a solution. The examples published on your website have been brought to the attention of ABC Innovation management."

ABC Environment: flood turns equine to bovine

Screen capture ABC Environment News Portal 15/2/2011

ABC environmental wants you to believe mineral explorers are looking for Uranium in the snowy Alps of West Australia, now they propose the recent floods have turned horses into cows:

ABC Environment's new "Abalone steak"

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys

Update: Nothing "unprecedented" in melting ice

(British Antarctic Survey)

We questioned the ABC about the appropriateness of using the photo (shown above) to accompany ABC's report titled "Climategate scientists cleared by British inquiry". The photo shows ice shelves in the Antarctic? Surely a photo of Phil Jones would be more appropriate, or perhaps a shot of the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit? How about the cover of Andrew Montford's book The Hockey Stick Illusion: Climategate and the Corruption of Science. Especially given that recent research shows that current ice levels in Antarctica are not unprecedented (see "Reduced ice extent on the western Antarctic Peninsula at 700–970 cal. yr B.P." published in Geology. July 2010, v. 38, no. 7. referred to in our missing news post Nothing unprecedented in melting ice)  AND current sea ice levels around the Antarctic are at record high levels as confirmed by the graph below from the recent NOAA State of the Climate report. Surprisingly this fact was not covered in ABC's "extensive" coverage of this NOAA report. NOAA indicate: During June 2010, the Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent reached its largest extent on record for June, 8.3 percent above the 1979–2000 average. This is the eighth consecutive June with above-average Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent. Southern Hemisphere sea ice extent for June has increased at an average rate of 1.4 percent per decade.

Here's the guts of ABC's reply, received 29 July, 2010:

On review, Audience and Consumer Affairs do not agree the image was inappropriate. The image depicted ice shelves in Antarctica; one of the issues that have been raised as part of the ongoing debates around climate change. While noting your concerns, we believe the image was appropriate to accompany a story that reported on the outcome of an inquiry into the quality of research on climate change, prompted by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.

Accordingly, while noting your concerns, Audience and Consumer Affairs are satisfied the image accompanying the article was in keeping with section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC's Editorial Policies. Nonetheless, please be assured that your comments have been conveyed to ABC News management.

Missing News: Nothing "unprecedented" in melting ice

ABC are fond of using photos of melting ice packs to accompany reports of alarming man made global warming, perhaps to emphasise how "unprecedented" this appears to be. However a recent article titled "Reduced ice extent on the western Antarctic Peninsula at 700-970 cal. yr B.P." published in the prestigious journal "Geology" reports that melting ice in the Antarctic, particularly in the West Antarctica peninsula, is not unprecedented at all, but is quite a common natural occurrence happening regardless of human influence.
The abstract reads:
Rapid warming and consequent ice-shelf collapse have focused attention on the glacial record of the Antarctic Peninsula. Here, we present the first record of terrestrial organic material exposed by recently retreating ice that bears on past glacier extent and climate in this sensitive region. Radiocarbon dates show that ice on Anvers Island was at or behind its present position at 700–970 cal. yr B.P., coincident with ice reduction elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, the data indicate that present reduced ice extent on the western Antarctic Peninsula is not unprecedented and is similar to that experienced during at least three periods in the last 5600 yr.

Perhaps the ABC will firstly report on this important new study, and secondly, perhaps it will now find more appropriate imagery to accompany articles on Dangerous Man Made Global Warming, we suggest the figure above is much more appropriate (from We're not scared anymore Mr Gore: SPecial edition - another victim of Totschweigtaktik).


UPDATE: ABC replied to our request for an more appropriate photo to accompany ABC's report Climategate scientists cleared by British inquiry linked to above.
Received 29 July 2010

Thank you for your email of 12 July concerning the image accompanying the ABC News Online article "Climategate scientists cleared by British inquiry" published on 8 July.

 

Your concerns have been investigated by Audience and Consumer Affairs, a unit which is separate to and independent of program making areas within the ABC. In light of your concerns, we have assessed the image associated with the article against the ABC's editorial requirements for accuracy in news and current affairs content, as outlined in section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC's Editorial Policies:http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/edpols.htm.

 

On review, Audience and Consumer Affairs do not agree the image was inappropriate. The image depicted ice shelves in Antarctica; one of the issues that have been raised as part of the ongoing debates around climate change. While noting your concerns, we believe the image was appropriate to accompany a story that reported on the outcome of an inquiry into the quality of research on climate change, prompted by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.

 

Accordingly, while noting your concerns, Audience and Consumer Affairs are satisfied the image accompanying the article was in keeping with section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC's Editorial Policies. Nonetheless, please be assured that your comments have been conveyed to ABC News management.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write, and for your interest in the ABC. For your reference, a copy of the ABC Code of Practice is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf.

 

Yours sincerely

Audience & Consumer Affairs

From the vault - Moby Dave, not Moby Dick

7.00pm Television News 21 October 2006
The complaint
Five viewers complained that a photograph of a whale shark, which is not in fact a whale, was
used in the introduction to a report about research into whale songs.
Findings
The ABC acknowledged the error. The stock image was more obviously labelled to avoid any
recurrence of this error in future.


http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/public_report_oct_dec_2006.pdf


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