TV3 dignifies a science-denier by calling him a “skeptic” TV3 News, Monday 6 January 2014, 6:10 p.m.
As even the supremely insensate John “Cabbage” Banks must have noticed, it’s been hot in New Zealand lately.
At the same time, however, it’s been extremely cold in the United States and Europe, and a couple of boats have been caught in the ice in Antarctica. This naturally calls into question the whole idea of global warming, as the intelligent folk at one of our premier blogs have noted…. http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2014/01/ice-veteran-slams-ship-fools/
With all this heat in the air, the producers at TV3 News evidently thought it was time to assign ace reporter Emma Brannam to come up with a short, sweet item about the heat wave. A “balanced” item, of course, which means that you balance up the bias of scientists by countering it with the well reasoned denials of cantankerous fanatics who insist the world’s scientists are engaged in a massive scam along the lines of the Illuminati conspiracy, the Harold Holt defection to the USSR or the 9/11 “inside job”.
The item began with shots of Aucklanders swimming, rubbing sunscreen on their bodies, and eating ice cream. All this served to establish the theme: it’s hot. Emma Brannam then gave about twenty seconds of air time to the leading climate scientist Professor Jim Salinger.
This was “balanced” by going to a crank, Bryan Leyland, one of the New Zealand advocates for Screaming Lord Monckton, the infamous science-denier who caused a fuss recently when Victoria University refused to treat him as a serious person…..
In the interests of “balance” rather than accuracy, Emma Branham called Leyland a “skeptic”, as if he were some kind of Voltaire, rather than a science-denying fruitcake.
Since “balance” is obviously the watchword for TV3 News, I guess we can expect to see a Holocaust-denier interviewed every time World War II is mentioned, an Elvis-worshipper brought on to assert Elvis is still alive whenever any mention is made of his death, and a member of the Flat Earth Society hauled out to refute the scientific establishment’s socialist propaganda every time an item on space travel is aired.
“..In the interests of “balance” rather than accuracy, Emma Branham called Leyland a “skeptic”, as if he were some kind of Voltaire, rather than a science-denying fruitcake..
“Ace reporter”…..At this juncture I tend to blanch, I have since I left Uni (sometime in the Jurassic) met, socialised with, know (some are even children of my old friends) several TV “jornos”. They have two things in common: they talk nicely for the camera, they look good and presentable on the screen.
This adds up to one thing: they are talking heads. Without being too mean to people I like I cant think of one who has life experience, actual knowledge, etc. That is because in the role it is not needed, it is light weight / follow the script stuff. To assign intelligence to them (and I am not saying they are unintelligent) is to miss the point. So “ace”, wtf does that convey? I gave up listening to mainstream news eons ago for this very reason.
PS If you want to see some good reporters asking difficult questions try the Russian TV reporters (RT).
Please Morrissey, you must get the story right. Harold Holt did NOT defect to the USSR. He swam out to sea and was picked up by a Chinese submarine. In other words he defected to China. Everybody knows that. Please don’t confuse them by mentioning the USSR. As an aside there is a memorial to Holt in Melbourne. Sombody with a macabre sense of humour decided that a suitable memorial for someone who had drowned would be a public swimming pool!
Indeed, alwyn, I learned of the Harold Holt Swim Centre (in Malvern) many years ago, while reading Barry Humphries’ fantastically funny book about Australian kitsch.
The Australian establishment’s capacity for irony is almost as keen as the South African establishment’s legendary black humour.
TV3 News, Monday 6 January 2014, 6:10 p.m.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2014/01/ice-veteran-slams-ship-fools/
Harold Holt did NOT defect to the USSR.
He swam out to sea and was picked up by a Chinese submarine. In other words he defected to China.
Everybody knows that. Please don’t confuse them by mentioning the USSR.
As an aside there is a memorial to Holt in Melbourne. Sombody with a macabre sense of humour decided that a suitable memorial for someone who had drowned would be a public swimming pool!