Complaint to TVNZ about climate change programme

The New Zealand
Climate Science Coalition

18 May 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Complaint to TVNZ about “Sunday” climate change programme

A formal complaint has been lodged with TNVZ about the “Sunday” programme screened by TV One on 3 May about the launch of Gareth Morgan’s book, “Poles Apart” on climate change. The complaint by the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition says that the programme lacked balance and accuracy.

Details of the complaint are:
1) It showed repeated images of the island of Takku being flooded by the sea. It stated very clearly that this was because of rising sea levels. The coalition states that it is well-known that this is not true. The island has sunk about 2000 mm due to tectonic plate movement and this is the reason for the flooding. Global sea level rise has been at a rate of just under 3 mm per year for the past 150 years or so. That being the case, it is impossible that, as claimed, the sea level had risen 2000 mm and so swamped the island.

2) It showed pictures of Wilkins ice shelf breaking up and led listeners to believe that this was typical of the whole of Antarctica. “Even if it did not explicitly say that it was typical, there was an obligation to point out that recent observations show that the total sea ice area around Antarctica is now at its largest extent since satellite observations began. This information is available at: http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2009/04/30/antarctic-ice-increasing/
In the interests of balance and accuracy, the program should have made this clear,” the coalition says.

3) It showed a picture of melting sea ice and implied that the Arctic ice was retreating at a rapid rate. The coalition states: “The fact is that the Arctic ice is now close to normal since satellite observations began and a recent study showed that the ice thickness was thicker than expected. Therefore, there is nothing in the current evidence to indicate that there is -- or has been -- anything abnormal going on with the Arctic ice. In the interests of balance and accuracy, the program should have made this clear.’

4) It featured Tim Flannery, of Australia, in a manner which led the public to believe that he had expertise in climate science. The coalition states: “Tim Flannery is, very properly, respected for his knowledge on animals and, in particular, his book ‘The Future Eaters’ on the extinction of large animals in Australia following the arrival of human beings perhaps 60,000 years ago. When he claimed that the world would reach a ‘tipping point’ if the temperature increased by a degree or two, he was doing no more than the expressing his own opinion; an opinion that has no support in the evidence, the computer models, or the reports from the IPCC. Therefore, to put him forward as though he was an expert in climate science was misleading the public.”

5) The programme strongly implied that the world is warming. The coalition states: “This is not so. There has been no net warming since about 2002. While it is always possible to select a straight line that shows the trend is upwards, it is absolutely undeniable that the world has cooled since 2002. It is also undeniable that the current minimum sunspot cycle has the greatest number of days without any sunspots since 1913. History tells us that long solar periods without sunspots coincide with global cool periods.In the interests of accuracy, it should have been pointed out that the world has not warmed since 2002 and, in the interests of balance, it should have been pointed out that sunspot -- and other -- evidence indicates that severe cooling is at least as likely as a resumption of the warming trend that ended at the turn of this century.

6) The final ground for complaint was: “There was no mention of whether or not Gareth Morgan had a financial interest in promoting the alarmist version on the debate on whether or not dangerous man-made global warming is occurring. As he is an investor and financial adviser, the public should know whether or not he or his companies had shares in subsidised renewable energy projects or in carbon trading or if he advises people to invest in them.”

The coalition suggests to TVNZ that a fair way of restoring the balance would be to instruct “Sunday” to do a similar interview and programme on Ian Wishart's book and, at the same time interview someone such as Professor Bob Carter who is well qualified to comment on climate change issues.

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