Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell demonstrates what a biased journalist he is.
My first impression was to ignore the request for interview from Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell last week, after all, RS has pretty much blown what credibility they had after making a terrorist bomber a front page teen heartthrob.
But, I said to myself, “it’s my duty to reach people I might not ordinarily reach”. So, I responded in good faith. In exchange, I got slimed by Goodell.
Here’s the email exchange I had with him:
===========================================================
thanks for this.
Jeff Goodell
Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone
518-xxx-xxxx
@jeffgoodell
My view is that AR5 is going to stillborn, mainly because it is already outdated by new science that won’t be included.
There have been 19 separate peer reviewed papers published in climate sensitivity to CO2 by 42 scientists since January 1, 2012 all describing a lower climate sensitivity.
There have been recent revelations in journals (Yu Kosaka & Shang-Ping Xie Nature 2013 and de Freitas &McLean, 2013 International Journal of Geosciences) that demonstrate ENSO (El Niño) in the Pacific is responsible for the 15 plus years of global warming slowdown known as “the pause”. These two papers strongly suggest natural variability is still the dominant climate control.
Then there is the lack of reality matching what the climate models tell us, such as this leaked graph from an AR5 draft:
Original from AR5 draft: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/ipcc_ar5_draft_fig1-4_with.png
Annotated version: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/ipcc-ar5draft-fig-1-4.gif
All this while global CO2 emissions have been growing steadily. The lack of temperature match to models, “the pause”, combined with these new ENSO findings tell us that global warming has gone from a planetary crisis to a minor problem in a Banana Republic where only a few vocal science rebels are arguing for immediate intervention.
The costs of mitigating the perceived problem are also staggering compared to the benefit, as the 50:1 project demonstrates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw5Lda06iK0
best regards,
Anthony Watts
Editor, WUWT
530-xxx-xxxx
—–Original Message—– From: Jeff Goodell
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2013 10:41 AM
To: awatts@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: Rolling Stone inquiry
Name: Jeff Goodell
Email: jeffgoodell@xxxxx.xxx
Message: Hi Anthony
I’m a writer for Rolling Stone, working on piece about upcoming IPCC report. I’m checking in with a few people to get their views on how they think it will be received. Thoughts?
Thanks
Jeff
Time: September 3, 2013 at 10:41 am
=================================================================
And what did I get for my effort? A single word. Here is the paragraph where I appear:
But, of course, this is nothing new. In 2007, when the IPCC released its Fourth Assessment Report, it was also nearly certain that human activity was heating up the planet, with grave consequences for our future well-being. And six years before that, when the IPCC released its Third Assessment, scientists were pretty certain about it too. But phrases like “high confidence” in warming do not, to the unscientific ear, inspire high confidence in the report’s finding, since they imply the existence of doubt, no matter how slight. And in the climate wars, “Doubt is what deniers thrive on and exploit,” says Bob Watson, who was head of the IPCC from 1997 to 2002. The final report has not even been released yet, and already prominent bloggers in the denial-sphere, like Anthony Watts, are calling it “stillborn.“
(added) What is most galling, is that Goodell asked me for my opinion prior the release of the IPCC AR5 report, then chastises me in his article for giving it. Whatta guy. (/end add)
Meanwhile, full quotes exist in the article from Naomi Oreskes, Rajendra Pachauri, Bob Watson, Anthony Leiserowitz, Ben Santer, blogger Joe Romm, and last but not least the anonymous tweeting person(s) behind Organizing for Action, the successor of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Besides giving liberal use of the word “denier” in the most derogatory way possible, the article also mentions “Why the City of Miami is Doomed to Drown“. Where he fantasizes about the year 2030.
Read it all here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warming-is-very-real-20130912?print=true
I suppose it’s par for the course from people that can’t tell the difference between water vapor from cooling towers and “carbon emissions”.
The stupid, it burns! http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-denier-elite-20130912
My single word with a “denier” label to my name is what I get for talking to “The Delinquent Teenager” crowd as if they were adults I suppose. I suggest that anyone who encounters Jeff Goodell in any future interview request, simply not respond – he’s shamelessly biased, fine with hatefully labeling people he doesn’t agree with, runs in the company of fools that can’t tell pollution from non-pollution, and now proven himself to be not worth the effort.
UPDATE: Shortly after I wrote this article, Goodell took notice on his Twitter feed, and shortly after that, the erroneous caption was replaced along with a different photo of the same power station in Germany, but with no explanation as to the error. Here’s what it looks like now:
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Actually, the caption to the photograph of the towers is wrong. Those are not carbon emissions but steam escaping from cooling towers. I could be wrong, but Carbon is usually found in smoke, I thought..
It doesn’t matter what they do Anthony they can’t change reality. As for RS, B-Ark people.
I gave up on Rolling Stone mag in the late 1970’s. I still have no reason to read it.
Bill Hayes says:
September 12, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Awww Bill, you beat me to it! Yes that is steam – you know the vapor phase of H2O. Hey Rolling Stone, let me know where those carbon atoms are! ROTFL!!!
No worries, Anthony. The half dozen or so Rolling Stone readers who don’t skip right past that article probably weren’t savable to begin with.
What authoritarian cachet is acquired by Goodell’s peculiar non-professional appearance?
Hope springs eternal, eh Anthony?
Cannot fault you for the hope. I guess I am just too old and cynical.
Sadly, that has been my experience over 15 years on food/ag policy and ANYTHING scientific: Biotechnology, animal husbandry, pesticides, etc. I hate to say it, but I think the media game as it is currently set up is a losers game. Fox is only concerned with Washington horse races and pretty much all the rest outside of some specialist press is a bunch of dishonest, meme-driven Lefty wackos. John Stossel is the ONLY guy I worked with who I felt comfortable with and thought was a seriously straight shooter.
Anthony, I believe you were correct in your first impression. In my humble view, If there was ever a case to use a barge pole, this was it.
“Carbon Emissions from a power plant?” Wow, the technology certainly has changed. That looks uncannily like water vapour to me.
Is that steam coming of the ‘Rolling Piece of Dung’ or carbon emissions?
look at those carbon chemtrails!
eternal sunshine of the untethered mind.
don’t burst their bubble – there’s nowhere else they can survive!
hmm…
*looks for some needles*
It’s not “steam”; it’s the deadly vapor form of dihydrogen monoxide!
Yes the Rolling Stone Magazine, a paragon of scientific prominence. I have never touched, let alone looked at, the pages of Rolling Stone. I didn’t say “read” since I wasn’t sure that they had anything in their pages to read until you printed the above excerpt.
Anyway, the rolling stone, al gore…etc…the thief and liar Peter Gleick, Mann, Jones….they are the voices of Global Warming. I say let them talk but don’t give the rolling Stone any more exposure. It is a failing cartoon rag and I’d like to see it out of print. Don’t link to it.
Don’t mention any of the writers etc. let them fade into oblivion.
Yeah, what you see there is steam. Of course, even though you can’t see it, CO2 is also being emitted. Just as it is emitted when we breathe out. So we are all actually emitted “carbon emissions.” It’s just the attempt to label something, make the tribe hate what you have labelled.
You give too much credit to the Rolling Stone as a magiizine to be respected. The Rolling Stone hated Led Zepellin for years. If they can not get the music right..as a music magizine, Why do you care about their climate views?
You have a burning desire to be liked by those who will never like you.
@JeffWhitman Sky – AH! Another Zepplin fan! Yep, same reason here. I do not need some preening peacocks to tell me what I like in music.
Anthony, I commend you on your attempt to reason with Goodnell, but it was a lost cause from the beginning, Here is a piece of “journalism” about sea level rise from Goodnell and Rolling Stone…
http://climatesanity.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/cities-underwater-miami/
Those are cooling towers of course and are certainly not CO2 producers.
I guess Anthony fits in with the propagandist category of that headline, amongst the politicians and polluters. Being associated with polluters is an injury, but Anthony does not deserve to be joined with the politicians. That is a real insult, and almost unforgivable.
The Rolling Stone is exactly what you state it to be, a biased, erroneous rag that cannot tell the difference between steam and CO2. What else could anyone expect from a hyped up rag that foisted that last front page. onto the public They even bragged about it’s attention grabbing ability, like it would actually grant them some credibility. The arrogance and ignorance is astounding.
Who is James Galt?
Reply: Cryptic or just wrong? We’ll never know. ~ ctm (guest appearance–crawling back under rock now)
Keitho says:
September 12, 2013 at 12:33 pm
“It doesn’t matter what they do Anthony they can’t change reality. As for RS, B-Ark people.”
I too was thinking of THHGTTG. The bit where the Book reference on humans gives “harmless.” A single word entry which Ford Prefect upgrades to “mostly harmless.” And yes, this sort of guy will be the first… when the revolution comes. LOL.
Some music for the ‘event’ – “Cover Of The Rolling Stone” – Dr.Hook
Well, we’re big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we’re loved everywhere we go…(That sounds like us)
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten thousand dollars a show…(Right)
We take all kinds of p**** that give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we’ve never known
Is the thrill that’ll getcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
Chorus:
(Rollin’ Stone…) Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Stone…) Wanna buy five copies for my mother…(Yes)
(Stone…) Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone…
Anthony, you are being too nice to the PC crowd.
I would have asked Jeff if he knew his BUTT from a BTU, cause, it IS all about the science.
Hindsight is statistically significantly right!
Thanks for trying, Anthony.