I can understand how frustrating it must have been for Stossel at ABC, given that he’s on the other side of the global warming issue from the news department there, but moving to Fox will minimize the broader impact of what he has been saying about the subject of global warming.
It is worth a flashback though, to his report in 2007 on the issue.
I hope he’ll keep an eye on the issue.
It’s too bad he’s moving – any Fox personality is automatically ignored by the majority of the left.
The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper is censoring comments that point out their global warming bias under the guise that some of their stalwart pro AGW poster -who is collaborating with them on some wiki globe- is offended… Anything to silence oppostion.
Did anyone ever challenge Al Gore on his statement that he was getting reports that Polar bears – noted for their swimming ability – were drowning?
Stossel’s defection to FOX was inevitable. FOX is the lone purveyor of both sides of major issues. The other networks gave up on balance years ago and their ratings have plummeted as people flock to the internet and to FOX to satisfy their need for untainted information.
but moving to Fox will minimize the broader impact of what he has been saying about the subject of global warming.
On the contrary!, just look ratings.
Although the MSM and lefty pol’s minimizes Fox. It appears that viewers do not.
They have nearly 3x the viewers as the next station MSNBC for Prime Time.
And over 300,000 more viewers than the other stations combined.
Updated: Cable News Ratings for Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Posted on 10 September 2009 by Robert Seidman
10:55AM PDT: we got updated numbers for 9/8 and have replaced what was originally posted.
Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for September 8, 2009
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,451,000 viewers
CNN – 549,000 viewers
MSNBC –444,000 viewers
CNBC – 192,000 viewers
HLN – 301,000 viewers
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 3,122,000viewers
CNN— 819,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,098,000 viewers
CNBC – 202,000 viewers
HLN – 675,000viewers
25-54 Total Day
FNC –410,000 viewers
CNN –155,000 viewers
MSNBC –163,000 viewers
CNBC – 59,000 viewers
HLN- 141,000 viewers
25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 851,000 viewers
CNN – 221,000 viewers
MSNBC –367,000 viewers
CNBC – 76,000 viewers
HLN – 297,000 viewers
35-64 Total Day
FNC – 697,000 viewers
CNN – 223,000 viewers
MSNBC – 232,000 viewers
CNBC – 93,000 viewers
HLN – 173,000 viewers
35-64 Prime Time
FNC –1,494,000 viewers
CNN – 337,000 viewers
MSNBC –591,000 viewers
CNBC –98,000 viewers
HLN –381,000 viewers
Source:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/10/cable-news-ratings-for-tuesday-september-8-2009/26742
Certainly though Fox is a more appropriate home for someone like Stossel. He was a fish out of water at ABC given the raving climate lunatics they are!
OT, it is interesting to see the spin NSIDC is putting on the sea ice extent this year. As per an article in the Toronto Star on “the opening of the northeast passage”:
Sep 11, 2009 01:42 PM
Matt Moore, Seth Borenstein
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRANKFURT, Germany – Two German ships have traversed the fabled Northeast Passage, having arrived in Siberia from South Korea by travelling around Russia’s Arctic coast line. Global warming and melting ice made the journey possible.
Now the German-owned ships are poised to complete their journey through the cold waters where icebergs abound, heading for Rotterdam in the Netherlands with 3,500 tons of construction parts.
The merchant ships MV Beluga Fraternity and MV Beluga Foresight arrived this week in Yamburg, Siberia, their owner Beluga Shipping GmbH said Friday. They travelled from Ulsan, South Korea, in late July to Siberia by way of the Northeast Passage, a sea lane that, in years past, was avoided because of its heavy ice floes.
Scientists report that the Arctic Ocean ice cap has been shrinking to unprecedented levels in recent summers, because of global warming, opening up many passages that were ice-choked in earlier times.
In July, new NASA satellite measurements showed that sea ice in the Arctic was not just shrinking in area, but thinning dramatically.
Niels Stolberg, the president of Beluga, which is based in the German city of Bremen, called it the first time a Western shipping company successfully transited the Northeast Passage.
“To transit the Northeast Passage so well and professionally without incident on the premiere is the result of our extremely accurate preparation as well as the outstanding team work between our attentive captains, our reliable meteorologists and our engaged crew,” Stolberg said.
He said the shipping company was planning more voyages through the area in coming months. Traditionally, shippers travelling from Asia to Europe have to go through the Gulf of Aden and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea and, pending their destination, into the Atlantic Ocean.
A journey from South Korean to the Netherlands, for example, is about 11,000 nautical miles (12,658 miles). By going northward and using the Northeast Passage, approximately 3,000 nautical miles (3,452 miles) and 10 days can be shaved off. That means lower fuel costs.
Researchers said the ability to navigate the route showed climate change.
“We are seeing an expression of climate change here,” said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. “The Arctic is warming; we’re losing the sea ice cover. The more frequent opening of that Northeast Passage is part of the process we’re seeing.”
“The Arctic is becoming a blue ocean,” Serreze told The Associated Press.
For the last few years, including this year, navigator Roald Amundsen’s famous Northwest Passage has been navigable. Then in 2007, the more crucial deep water channel called McClure Strait opened up and now the Northeast Passage, Serreze said. The passage “is the traditional choke point,” Serreze said.
That northern route “is going to become more and more open on a seasonal basis,” Serreze said. But it won’t be consistently open because of local weather patterns that could still freeze it up for long time periods.
This year is shaping up to have the third lowest amount of Arctic sea ice on record, just behind the worst year set in 2007 and in 2008. But just because 2009 is slightly up from the past two years, it is not an upward trend or a recovery, Serreze said. It reflects a change in local weather patterns that occurred in August, he said.
“It’s certainly part of the overall decline of sea ice that we’ve been seeing,” Serreze said.
Sheesh! It’s the old up is down, cold is warm newspeak! What year is it again? 1984?
Antonio: “The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper is censoring comments that point out their global warming bias under the guise that some of their stalwart pro AGW poster -who is collaborating with them on some wiki globe- is offended… Anything to silence oppostion.”
Hey Antonio, I’m “Eyes” from the G&M comments! I noticed something amiss too although I’m not sure it’s as sinister as you make out (although I wouldn’t put it past the G&M). All the commentary is down, not just on climate related issues. The whole comment function on the G&M has been sucking wind ever since they made the format changes several months ago! Maybe the whole system just gave up the ghost!
Hey Antonio I did notice that the Toronto (Red) Star is now not allowing any comments on climate-related articles (like the one I posted above). Certainly they don’t want anyone speaking against their lies!
John Stossel always gave a clear and even report in his 20/20 pieces rather than alarmist hype. It’s a wonder he lasted as long as he did. Maybe with more freedom at Fox his reports won’t be as infrequent as they were at ABC.
This is the first time I seen the Stossel’s 20/20 piece. It was very good. I thought the piece with the young children was very effective – scary, but effective. (It also illustrates why we should be concerned about what teachers and politicians are saying to schoolkids.) Let’s hope that Fox can provide him with the resources to do a series on these issue and not just a segment.
Good for him. He probably has a better future there. ABC ratings steadily fall and FOX continues to rise. I hope he gets more air time there.
************
Captain Obviousness (10:46:40) :
It’s too bad he’s moving – any Fox personality is automatically ignored by the majority of the left.
***********
We don’t need the left. Very roughly, the US voters are divided equally between conservative, liberal, and moderate. It is the moderates we need to win over. More and more people are watching Fox news because the NY Times, the major TV networks, and other mainstream media outlets don’t report on Comrade Obamas true beliefs and screwups. If you used only main stream media for news, you wouldn’t even have known who Van Jones is. Because MSM are in the tank for Obama, people are turning to Fox and talk radio. Probably a lot of these are moderates who want to know the truth about what’s going on.
John Stossel speaking at the New York conference on global warming, in part of which he tries to instruct the “skeptical” scientists who to relay their side :
His days were numbered on ABC when he did his first ambush interview of multiple chemical sensitivity patients.
Mark (11:10:43)
When you select an article from a web page, you can pick up a lot of extraneous stuff like
Print
Choose text size
Report error or complaint
After you paste an article into the comment box, you can edit out all the garbage.
Thanks for the info on the Northwest Passage, by the way.
Ignore the rest here as I’m fiddling with some html markup :
<i>italic</i>
<strike>strike</strike>
<b>bold</b>
•
It is tough swimming agin the tide – it makes some more determined.
Over here we have Sky News (Fox news sister) – same lot and definitely not as blind biased as the Beeb, I care not about the current vogue of AGW, (imho) its such guff!- and Mr. Stossel is correct to make a move and the best of luck to him!
Gene:
Many thanks for the video from Heartland. Acquiring Stossel is clearly Fox’s gain and ABC’s loss. It will also benefit Fox because he is no noisesome bs’er and they do have a few there. Perhaps they can benefit from seeing the power of solid background research cleverly and wittily positioned without the histrionics.
The editor of the Victoria, BC, Times Colonist has laid down an explicit policy that she will not allow skeptical climate stories to appear–they cause too much fuss with green readers and consensus climatologists. I also know this is true from personal experience. For eight years I wrote editorials and columns for the TC (I now teach), so obviously I am a professional writer by journalistic standards, but my last four skeptical freelance opeds on climate change were rejected, as are anyone else’s. Stossel could change networks, but where does someone in Victoria go to get the other side? It’s a one-newspaper town.
It looks like Fox is getting the ratings. Just share the news. If the media wants to shape my opinion, I can smell that from a mile away.
I like this web site because it shares new information. It helps us see other theories like solar winds and solar radiation. People that don’t want to learn can enjoy sites like climate progress.
Captain Obviousness (10:46:40) : any Fox personality is automatically ignored by the majority of the left.
I don’t think it’s important to exclusively please those on the far left of politics. FOX has higher ratings than ABC. More people will be seeing him now, more of the average population.
Hi Mark, thanks for letting me know about the Globe. Alan Burke threatened me with going to Matthew Ingram to bar my posts… nice to meet you outside the G&M arena!
Oh Reilly; FOX News “fair balanced”, sureeee…. *sigh*
The old fox who owns Fox news has a simple, and very effective method.
He does not care so much about “Fair and Balanced” as he cares about “Both Sides and Controversy”. As long as both sides are presented, you get an argument, and everybody loves to watch an argument.
The “Old Media” (since Fox now dominates the ratings, I find it hard to not call them the true main stream…, so…) the Old Media think if they just present THEIR “spin” on things, they will influence public opinion. They completely miss the point that only one side, any side, is BORING!
And that, btw, is part of Anthony’s secret… We get the trolls, and The Team, and the AGW True Believers; and along with them, we get the “juice” that makes it interesting. After all, how can you have a “slam dunk” worth watching if their is no opposition at the net (getting slammed, btw 😉
The moderators here and the “stars” on Fox act to keep the game civil and keep the topics “in play”, but are not there to feed you propaganda. The main story on any Fox show will reflect the point of view of the host (as do Anthony’s posts), but then they will bring in the other side for some energy.
It is that mastery of the strain between the two forces that makes it all interesting. It is the complete failure to understand that which makes the “warmer” sites pointless. (It is also why the Loony Left has failure after failure, like Air America, when they try to present propaganda as news. No “juice”… and why the dull network news loses to Fox too, only a single thread of pre-digested starch; no hot sauce…)
BTW, no new postings on http://chiefio.wordpress.com/ but I added a bunch of pictures at the tops of topics. Yeah, I ought to have done it at the time of first publication, but that “juice” thing is hard to do…
excellent film
Paul MacRae: “Stossel could change networks, but where does someone in Victoria go to get the other side?”
Why here of course!
“It’s a one-newspaper town.”
From a Canadian perspective (though not necesessarily Victoria), I find the National Post has several excellent columnists who work the other side of the street (Lorne Gunter, Lawrence Solomon, Peter Foster, Terence Corcoran). You’ll also get a different perspective from the Sun columnists (especially The Calgary Sun) but then it’s the Sun!
If you want to make yourself feel a bit better about it, cancel your subscription and just read it online (although they still may make a bit of money from your eyeballs depending on how their online advertising works). I eventually did this with the G&M due to getting fed up with bad delivery and their one-sided distortions of the global warming issue. When I called to cancel , the girl in subscriptions asked why I was cancelling. I said it was because I was saving the planet! I continued that I had read all these articles in the G&M about the climate change peril and I was just doing my part by reducing my consumption of resources! Left her with little to say!
Paul MacRae (12:09:08) : I am a professional writer by journalistic standards, but my last four skeptical freelance opeds on climate change were rejected, as are anyone else’s. Stossel could change networks, but where does someone in Victoria go to get the other side? It’s a one-newspaper town.
Well, given how newspapers have been going belly up all over the place when they pursue the “no news is good propaganda” strategy, i’d suggest finding out what web news serves the area and write for them, or if there is not one at present, start your own!
It takes zero money.
Just go to http://wordpress.com/ and get a free account. That’s what I did. You can do all the nifty stuff that Anthony does here on his WordPress account. Give it a spiffy name like “Victoria Real New!” and make sure your writing has some “juice” to it.
I suspect that in no time flat a professional writer with some energy and a goal could sink that local tree killer …
Put a link up to Craig’s List for your local want-ads.
Put a link to wunderground for your local weather.
Sign up a few local shops for, initially free, spot ads.
Put up a review of what’s playing at the local theatre(s).
(My spouse, in particular, loves reading clothing ads.)
Put a local small food store up with print it yourself “e-coupons”.
Get a local High School English major to write up the local school sports.
Get some folks from both sides of a couple of local controversial issues to write opinions. (Perhaps the weekly / monthly “from City Hall Meetings”?)
Then slot yourself in as Editor In Chief with your “one a week local restaurant review” (you get to tax deduct the meals 😉 and your one a week “Tech Talk” and your one a week “Education In The News” and your one a week “Climate What Again?” and…
Which of the two choices would you read? Them, or yours? Think about it.
Once you build enough readership, you can add paying ads, if you feel like it…
“People have proclaimed him (Gore) a prophet, a cultural icon, a conquering hero…”
All good scientific terms?
How about, possibly, though I am slightly hesitating (god, those snippers are painful)- ‘scientific illiterate?’
Mark, Antonio, & Paul:
As a Canadian newspaper junkie (I have 3 newspapers delivered to my door each morning, and monitor others online), I certainly agree with you. You won’t find any skeptical climate stories in the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, or the Victoria Times Colonist. Fortunately, the National Post is still around, and they do publish columns by Lorne Gunter and Lawrence Solomon from time to time. In fact, there’s a good climate column by Lorne Gunter in today’s (Sept. 11) National Post.
Stossell’s voice will be like a whisper at the base of a roaring Niagra Falls and will be drowned out by the concensus in the MSM. Just remember that those cable news shows still only pull a fraction of the audiences of the MSM. I wish him luck but the argument over global warming is over and Hansen’s side has won. It’s all about how much money will be spent on how fast we eliminate the use of coal and oil. If you are in doubt about this all you have to do is ask your schoolchildren. They already know we must stop using coal and oil in order to keep the polar bears from drowning. Their teachers have science learning segments on these types of global warming topics and your children are being indoctrinated year after year.
Thanks
William
Anyone who thinks Fox is fair and balanced needs to have their head examined. (Likewise with CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, and in fact any news outlet.) But Fox does the get the ratings. It infuriates the left because Fox does expose them. Therefore, they smear just like Fox smears the left. How hard would it be to have an unbiased news source?
Stossel is getting an upgrade. He is getting more viewers. The others are dying, Fox is thriving. (But not by me, I don’t watch Fox.) I always like Stossel because he had the guts to expose people with undeniable facts. The quickest way to make someone angry is to be right when they know that you are right and they are wrong. The stronger a person feels, the angrier they are when you are right. John Stossel had the guts to tell people they were wrong to their face knowing the reaction he would get. I won’t watch Glenn Beck, but I will watch John Stossel on Fox.
Rupert Murdoch may be many things. But nobody can accuse of being business stupid.
@Mark (11:10:43) :
thanks for bringing this to attention.
the authors are well known for untrue stories.
what they used to describe as a slight increase in sea-ice in 2009, could actually become the biggest increase ever since satellite measurements startet in 1979.
“Antonio San (12:18:56) :
Hi Mark, thanks for letting me know about the Globe. Alan Burke threatened me with going to Matthew Ingram to bar my posts… nice to meet you outside the G&M arena!”
—-
It is a small world online! I used to get so frustrated trying to debate with Alan Burke on the G&M, that guy thinks he is god and can never be wrong. Most narrow minded Canadian in the country hands down.
I bet John Stossel will thrive at his new home, much like Glen Beck has. Beck’s ratings are 3 or 4 times what they were at CNN Headline News.
In response to Lucy Skywalker’s piece on WUWT (September 9) tamino at Open Mind (http://tamino.wordpress.com/) has just posted an analysis of data from arctic weather stations that quite clearly show a hockey stick graph. I realise that posters here are not receptive to such data just as posters on Open Mind are very dismissive of WUWT. I do not have the expertise or to be truthful, the interest/incentive, to check the validity of tamino’s results but at face value they certainly cast significant doubt on Lucy Skywalker’s headline “Arctic Temperatures-What Hockey Stick?” It may not go down well here but if left unchallenged or not scrutinised, the results from tamino will cast significant doubt on the scientific validity of the articles published on WUWT. Maintaining scientific credibility surely must be paramount.
Paul MacRae (12:09:08) :
Feel sorry for you bud, B.C. is full of environmentalist, and they all want to us to change ‘for the good of the earth’. You have an up hill battle there. However most media in Canada are very biased also! CBC gave us “an inconvenient lie” twice over the xmas holidays and then when many of us complained they stated, that they give a balanced approach….ya….right….
Arctic is wide open now and just a blue ocean
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_arctic_passage
Mark (11:10:43) :
“the opening of the northeast passage”:
FRANKFURT, Germany – Two German ships have traversed the fabled Northeast Passage,
To add to what you say. I undersatnd they are being escorted by the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker “50 Years Since Victory”. This type of vessel is able to cut through 2m ice at a steady 3 knots.
And this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/705320.stm
The North Eastern Passage lies entirely in Russian waters. The Russians have been using the passage internally for some time, but show signs of willingness to open it up to international traffic.
Doesn’t sound very natural, and I understand the Russians are keen to open the NE passage up. I wonder how much assistance the summer melt has had considering the US and Canada can speed up the Spring melt on the Great Lakes by breaking the ice.
From what I have seen watching the video’s posted I think this is a nice guy and I wish him all the best.
Fox must be proud to have him and I am confident he will be a very productive voice
fighting the scare mungers.
From what I have seen watching the video’s posted I think this is a very nice guy and I wish him all the best.
Fox must be proud to have him and I am confident he will continue to be a very productive voice fighting the scare mongers and promoting objective journalism.
I really loved the video’s.
At the top levels FOX is MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC — these are just niches, to be filled. Believing in their “take” is like believing in the fairytale of two parties. Liberals are good people (citizens) just like you are good people (citizens). They are being misled by their “leaders” — just like you are being misled by your “leaders”. More and more I hear people say they never watch any tv news because they realize all of it is sensationalized and far from accurate. The box (boob tube) is there to keep you in it.
BTW, what is so loony about wanting safe transportation systems, pristine waters, excellent schools, racial equality, reliable energy, honest scientific research, well managed parks and other liberal values? That is what real liberals want. It’s the phony “leaders” that are creating the problems.
“The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper is censoring comments that point out their global warming bias under the guise that some of their stalwart pro AGW poster”
pls provide a link . . . might be a fun site to visit.
Indoctrination?
http://www.globalwarming.org/2009/09/11/next-stop-for-ace/
WHo gets more out of this, Fox or Stossel? Well, it looks like a great capitalist exchange because BOTH sides win big! Stossel will surely get bigger ratings, and Fox will get-well they will get John Stossel!
Mark and E.M. Smith,
Thanks for the suggestions. I do subscribe to the Post and the Globe, and do have my own blog (paulmacrae.com) on climate. What I meant was, of course, that there are no major local outlets (apart from some small community papers) for the skeptical position.
tj (14:09:45) :
BTW, what is so loony about wanting safe transportation systems, pristine waters, excellent schools, racial equality, reliable energy, honest scientific research, well managed parks and other liberal values?
The means by which they want to acheive these things.
That is what real liberals want.
Then they should embrace the one way in which these things can be ever hope to be acheived.
Mark
Wade (13:23:14) :
Anyone who thinks Fox is fair and balanced needs to have their head examined.
(But not by me, I don’t watch Fox.)
If you don’t watch Fox, how do you know they are not fair and balanced? Just askin…
Mark
tj: BTW, what is so loony about wanting safe transportation systems, pristine waters, excellent schools, racial equality, reliable energy, honest scientific research, well managed parks and other liberal values? That is what real liberals want. It’s the phony “leaders” that are creating the problems.
tj,
I assure you as a proud conservative (adherence to the Constitution, low taxes, strong military, all equally subject to the law, limited government…) conservatives have NO problem whatsoever with “safe transportation systems, pristine waters, excellent schools, racial equality, reliable energy, honest scientific research, well managed parks” and the like.
Actually, we’d LOVE to see those things from the liberal side! What? Do you think we give our kids dirty water to drink and advise them to smoke like the President?
Confiscatory tax rates and absurd environmental policies and the cronyism of community activism will not get us there, but we will continue to try to make life better for all.
Jim G (11:09:45) :
> Although the MSM and lefty pol’s minimizes Fox. It appears that viewers do not.
> They have nearly 3x the viewers as the next station MSNBC for Prime Time.
And over 300,000 more viewers than the other stations combined.
Careful – you’re talking cable. The topic here, I thought, was John
Stossel leaving ABC for different pastures.
> Updated: Cable News Ratings for Tuesday, September 8, 2009
> Posted on 10 September 2009 by Robert Seidman
> 10:55AM PDT: we got updated numbers for 9/8 and have replaced what was originally posted.
> Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for September 8, 2009
> P2+ Total Day
> FNC – 1,451,000 viewers
> CNN – 549,000 viewers
> MSNBC –444,000 viewers
> CNBC – 192,000 viewers
> HLN – 301,000 viewers
So, where are the ratings for new programs on the old networks?
>Source:
>http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/10/cable-news-ratings-for-tuesday-september-8-2009/26742
I didn’t see anything except for cable ratings.
Steven Hill (13:51:14) :
> Arctic is wide open now and just a blue ocean
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_arctic_passage
Better check that web page again – they must’ve replaced the photo with one that has ice in it.
tj (14:09:45) : There’s a difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. Liberals I know tend to believe in the latter, the problem being that it is highly objectionable. Moreover, the rest of what you write is basically “We just want the world to be this wonderful, perfect place. How can you object to our intentions?” Well, duh, good intentions aren’t the problem. The problem is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The problem is that the Government promises well managed parks-it doesn’t happen (see “Playing God in Yellowstone”). They promise honest scientific research-Hm, Hwang Affair, MBH-all crap which happened to support liberal causes. Reliable energy? Uh, wind is reliable? Excellent schools? Yeah, No Child Left Behind was great! Oh, that’s Ted Kennedy and George Bush, so it’s pedigree is only half liberal. Pristine water? Ever drink the water in a foreign country?
The problem is that whatever you think liberalism is, it isn’t what liberalism is. It can’t be. There is no liberalism without leaders. That’s a snake without it’s head. Liberalism, in the modern American sense, is about the government providing all those wonderful things through huge amounts of power.
Liberals intentions are, again, not the problem. The problem is the execution and the results. You can get all those things you said without Big Government. But without Big Government, there is no liberalism-there are only people who like nice things.
From the story I read two days ago they were assisted by two nuclear-powered icebreakers, not one. Other points:
All these Beluga company vessels were built specially reinforced against ice. They thus, presumably, cost more than ordinary vessels and have less cargo capacity.
It would be risky to have sent ordinary vessels through the route in company with them currently, since ordinary hulls and propellers would likely get dented and dinged by small ice debris left in the wake of an icebreaker.
The two Beluga vessels that transited the Passage made their voyage because they were delivering heavy equipment from a manufacturer in Asia to a Siberian port. They then continued westwards to their homeport in Europe. They were not doing so because the NE passage to Europe is shorter and more economical.
They had to wait in port in Asia (paying crew’s wages and port fees) for weeks before they got the green light from the Russians that the coast was the clearest it was going to get, and that their icebreakers were available. And speed was reduced during the portion of the voyage that required the icebreakers to clear a path ahead. These factors mean the route is not nearly economical yet for ordinary shipping.
The Passage will only be as open as it was for a couple of weeks. Thereafter traversal will get harder. There’s only a brief open window at present.
The BBC story didn’t mention that arctic ice extent has risen over the last two years. It spoke exclusively of a declining long-term trend and implied, by the choice of persons it quoted, that ice extent would continue to retreat until the Passage is open year-round:
“The steady rise in temperatures over the last 20 years has seen the ice thin and retreat substantially. This means that the passage may soon become navigable for most of the year. Dr Peter Wadhams, of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK, said that the long sought dream of a North East shipping route “could become reality in as little as 10 years time”. … Dr Wadhams said that satellite images showed arctic sea ice receding towards the North Pole at a rate of 5% per decade.”
Here are brief quotes from the AP story, “2 German cargo ships pass through ‘Arctic Passage’,” by Matt Moore and Seth Borenstein, linked to above. Note the misleading spin:
“In July, new NASA satellite measurements showed that sea ice in the Arctic was not just shrinking in area, but thinning dramatically. …
“This year is shaping up to have the third lowest amount of Arctic sea ice on record, just behind the worst year set in 2007 and in 2008. But just because 2009 is slightly up from the past two years, it is not an upward trend or a recovery, Serreze said. It reflects a change in local weather patterns that occurred in August, he said. “It’s certainly part of the overall decline of sea ice that we’ve been seeing,” Serreze said.
………….
“Niels Stolberg, the president of Beluga, … said the shipping company was planning more voyages through the area in coming months.”
But these won’t be full traversals of the Passage, just incursions and returns into the less-icy parts of the Arctic Ocean.
Fox is having a great week and ending today strong. They just posted a written message telling us that The census Beaureau fired ACORN as a partner.
It may take the other networks time to figure out how to ‘frame” the story. it looks bad that they haven’t covered ACORN and now the bombshell.
Ryan C:
“Alan Burke on the G&M, that guy thinks he is god and can never be wrong.”
But then he’s got a bachelors degree in physics from RMC! Whoowhee!
Fred, their comment section was down this morning. Since it coincided with some threats by a resident pro-AGW poster to complain about my posts and see my “posting privileges” removed, I thought I was banned. But they just had a technical glitch. Perhaps they’ll ban me tomorrow…
Big upgrade for Fox!
Stossel would make a great debate opponent for Gore. During the Carbon Cap hearings, skeptics proposed Monckton as a counterpoise. Monckton can be quite good, but Stossel would have been much more effective. IMHO.
Well, that’s it. Now I won’t have to watch ABC any more — he was the only reason I tuned in, in the hope he’d take on another sacred cow. It’s a smart move and a good fit.
The Lamestream media loved him while he was exposing business practices which were less than stellar. Once he turned that same spotlight and critique on government and feel-good non-profits and held them to the same standards, they acted like a woman scorned. If the folks at FOX are smart, they’ll give him free rein to really stir things up.
OT: It seems that Jeff Id at the air vent is getting on friendly terms with Eric Steig. Fine. Since we all read the posts of spurious trend in the Antarctica warming story, it would be quite appropriate to get an update on the subject and to see what has been confirmed or not from the Steig paper. Anyone wants to inform the readership? Thanks.
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Wade (13:23:14) :
(But not by me, I don’t watch Fox.)
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Before about a month ago, I didn’t watch Fox except for stock shows on Saturday. I listened to talk radio about once a year. After the cap and trade bill and the health care bill, I watch Fox and listen to talk radio. That is the best if not only way to find out what Comrade Obama and the Dims are up to. I listen, then I fact check on the Internet. The vast majority of the time when I have checked up on what Fox and TR are saying they have been spot on. I set the radio to as many AM talk radio stations I could find.
Paul, love your website. Beats the heck out of Alan Burke’s!
Looks like Fox is kicking major network butt also …
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/august_09_ratings_bill_oreilly_tops_greys_anatomy_the_office_129983.asp
We have to give the MSM media credit for aiding abetting their own demise.
They let the TALENT go and retain the biased doofus’ (not my true choice of descriptive words).
I’ve just seen Stossel’s video for the first time. I never realised that school kids were so frightened by AGW propaganda. Is this not a form of child abuse?
ttca
“The problem is that whatever you think liberalism is, it isn’t what liberalism is. It can’t be. There is no liberalism without leaders. That’s a snake without it’s head. Liberalism, in the modern American sense, is about the government providing all those wonderful things through huge amounts of power.”
Just insert conservatism in place of liberalism and oligarchic corporations in place of government and the statement is just as true. I once believed the two views existed, but now it appears to be a ruse to keep a good person like you bickering with a good person like me. Personally I, too, believe, it is time to choose again, but the other head of the monster is not my idea of a choice — we will get the same result. Doesn’t matter which head does the talking the results are going to be the same — the vocabulary will just be a bit different.
Are polls and ratings honest numbers or could they be fudged like temperatures????
Jimmy Haigh (19:29:01) :
I’ve just seen Stossel’s video for the first time. I never realised that school kids were so frightened by AGW propaganda. Is this not a form of child abuse?
Jimmy Haigh (19:29:01) :
I’ve just seen Stossel’s video for the first time. I never realised that school kids were so frightened by AGW propaganda. Is this not a form
of child abuse?
Not to worry Jimmy. That video is 2 years old. I’m sure it has gotten better.
Don’t hit the Tab key while composing a post.
Don’t hit the Tab key while composing a post.
Anthony, it seems that Fox News is all that any thinking person has going for them in the video wasteland these days. But where were they during the nomination process and the election? Their corporate leaders refused vetting of Obama — just like everyone else. Sickening, disgusting. Now we have a inexperienced [person] in the White House. Only Glenn Beck is bringing me back to Fox. Maybe Stossel will be a breath of fresh air, too.
Anyway, I am very grateful for the thoughtfulness and the investigative reporting (almost the only IR in the U.S. today) of the blogosphere. I might not be able to comment much for a while so I wanted to express special gratitude for an intelligent, interesting, stimulating, fascinating blog that connects all of your readers with issues of the utmost political and scientific importance. I would like to see you on Fox News, too. But, actually, I would rather you started your own network. Imagine how much fun everyone at WUWT would have informing the public with their usual wit, sarcasm, and breadth of experience. WUWT, under your leadership and inventiveness, is the creme de la creme.
Hello TJ,
You may be a reasonable person and your ideology may be very balanced. But, liberism is being controlled by people whose ideology is not balanced. Many of the Zhars in POTUS’ administration are far left progressives. Van Johnson is a good example. Another Zhar wants the goverment to grant animals human rights and legal standing in courts. While another advocates forced sterilization and abortions.
You have labeled yourself as a liberal (it seems that you have). The leadership of the modern american liberal/progressive movement is slightly marxist; therefore, so are you.
I, unfortunately, am a registered republican. John McCain and other RHINOs are leading my party. As a republicrat, I am supporting left of center middle-of-the-roaders. I am disgusted with this situation. Nevertheless, I am honest about it.
Your belief that non-liberals want nasty water, foul air, and a ruined landscape is proof that liberalism is your religion. I want a clean environment; therefore, I am not a sinner.
I’ve just seen Stossel’s video for the first time. I never realised that school kids were so frightened by AGW propaganda. Is this not a form
of child abuse?
[snip]
Children and especially young adults can be very cruel if they are constantly taught that certain people are evil and that those evil people are responsible for all the ills of the world. It begins at school and then migrates to eco-camps and eco-parades for our new nation of righteous eco-fascists. Eventually some influential leaders (Jim Hansen perhaps?) declare that things must be taken into their own hands and civil disobedience is justified, “The science is decided and if we true patriots of the Motherland are to save the Motherland then we must take things into our own hands. First it starts with deportation of high CO2 emitters but eventually it will end with BIOCHAR of the most evil ones!
“FOX is the lone purveyor of both sides of major issues.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or puke.
There is no main stream medium that fairly presents both sides of issues, including FOX.
That’s the biggest reason political discourse in this country is so coarse and polarized. The reason FOX has the highest ratings is because they pander to the lowest common denominator of society, not because they’re fair and balanced. I wish Stossel luck. He’s certainly been a voice in the wilderness on AGW, but I wonder how well he’ll fit in at FOX. He seems much too rational to be happy there with all of the loud mouth haters.
Roger Knights (16:09:41) :
another interesting aspect to those ships is that they offloaded the machine parts in Novy Port at the mouth of the Ob River. This port is only half way across the top end of Russia – they still have to travel another 4,000km (2,400 miles) by land to get to Stockholm.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/commercial-arctic-passage-nearing-goal/
cable news ratings, from front page at Drudge :
THURSDAY NITE, SEPT 10
FOXNEWS O’REILLY 3,609,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,340,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,986,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,522,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,362,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,040,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,573,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,164,000
CNN KING 965,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 882,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 734,000
CNN COOPER 691,000
FOX has the top 6. Maybe John Stossel will have a show and make it 7.
Steven Hill (13:51:14) :
Arctic is wide open now and just a blue ocean
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_arctic_passage
“Both ships, which carried cargo for a power plant project in Surgut, Siberia, were escorted by a pair of Russian icebreakers during portions of their journey. The Beluga Fraternity left South Korea on July 23, followed by the Beluga Foresight on July 28.”
Icebreakers?…for what?
Left wing – right wing- both are wings of the same ugly two headed bird…
As an independent I think I am probably a little more fair and balanced in my view of news networks. Right now FOX is better, but the reason is simple. The party they prefer is NOT is power. Hence, they are much more likely to be critical of the party in power which leads to more serious reporting. During the last administration exactly the opposite was true. They were defensive of the policies of Bush while those policies were investigated by the others.
tj (14:09:45) :
bs (14:09:46)
I am actually hopeful that Mr. Stossel may do better at Fox. I would be willing to bet that at ABC he could only go so far before his management would pull the plug. I always got the feeling ABC reluctantly featured John Stossel. There never seemed to be much publicity for his features. With Fox he may have more freedom.
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David in Davis (21:55:28) :
I don’t know whether to laugh or puke.
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You must not watch Fox News. Fox News Sunday, for example, ALWAYS has Democrats and Republicans on the show. So what’s to laugh at about that? The Dims get their say fair and square. I don’t watch O’Reilly much, but when I have I have seen him interview Dims and liberals. When he invites liberals on, they don’t come on half the time but that is their choice, not Fox News’. Even the Sat. morning stock shows have at least one liberal/dim for a counterpoint. I think maybe you need to watch Fox before you spew.
Don’t think it is smart to put fox on the skeptical side versus the rest. Fox is known in many country’s by a republican conservetive station mostly because of bill O’reilly’s fault.
jeroen (10:39:31) : Bill O’Reilly often states that he is not a Republican . I can’t say that I like him , but it doesn’t bother me when he skewers someone or something with which I also have a beef . Yes , Fox is “conservative” but mainly in comparison to all the other media in the US . At least Fox allows differing points of view in their news broadcasting . “Special Report” (their evening news cast) is the only evening news worth watching . Ditto for Fox News Sunday .
Mark, Hi, I just try not to fall into the left/right box and I’m certainly not in Karl’s corner. I have no idea why some would call that b.s. — it’s called being skeptical.
Jim (09:31:39) :
I don’t watch O’Reilly much, but when I have I have seen him interview Dims and liberals. When he invites liberals on, they don’t come on half the time but that is their choice, not Fox News’. Even the Sat. morning stock shows have at least one liberal/dim for a counterpoint. I think maybe you need to watch Fox before you spew.
I think you’re confusing news analysts with news reporters, as is everyone else. By and large the Fox analysts are at the very least right leaning, and with good reason: there simply aren’t very many interesting left leaning analysts. Rupert Murdoch has stated many times that if he could find more good liberal analysts, he’d hire them in a heartbeat. Alan Colmes was really the token.
Fox news reporters, however, are not nearly as obviously right-leaning as their analysts. They carry the same crap as every other network, but manage to throw in the counterpoint views the others overlook. I have no idea where people get the moronic view that watching Fox you’d never know about AGW… it simply isn’t true. The only difference is that they occasionally throw in the skeptical story. They mostly carry AP/Reuters news feeds for the stuff on the web.
Anyway, that said, nobody in their right mind would expect an analyst to be anything BUT biased. That’s an analyst’s job, to present his opinion. By definition, that is bias. Fox tries hard to bring on liberal voices as guests for the analysts, and they do have about as many as conservatives. Those that don’t watch don’t seem to know this yet pipe up as if they are experts anyway. Shameful, at best.
Mark
Mark_0454 (07:30:00) : I would be willing to bet that at ABC he could only go so far before his management would pull the plug.
I hope he has more freedom at FOX too. It is true that he had been limited in movement at ABC. He talks about it in this two part interview :
Jim (09:31:39)
I confess, I hardly watch any television. I do often catch the News Hour on PBS. Admittedly, it has a liberal bias, but they at least try to be neutral and respectful and make an honest effort to present both sides on most issues, though certainly not on AGW. From what I’ve seen of cable news – Fox or CNN – if I can’t find something better to do with my Sunday, I’ll just sleep in or hang out here, thanks. Murdoch can have his ratings and rantings, I’ll stick with PBS and the internet.
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David in Davis (16:48:57) :
From what I’ve seen of cable news – Fox or CNN – if I can’t find something better to do with my Sunday, I’ll just sleep in or hang out here, thanks. Murdoch can have his ratings and rantings, I’ll stick with PBS and the internet.
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Certainly you are free to live in the dark as you choose 😉
The number one issue for me is the way that the AGW Alarmists threaten those who dissent from their view.
IMHO: A movement that has validated their own assumptions and stands strongly on a firm foundation of independently verifiable facts would not need to operate the way that the AGW Alarmists do.
If they were to really engage with the dissenters than I would have respect, and I would grant that they were making and honest attempt to put their case.
These threats at the end of the video are the biggest red flag with regard to the honesty of the AGW Alarmist movement.
David in Davis (21:55:28) :
‘He seems much too rational to be happy there with all of the loud mouth haters.’
Please name who at fox news are haters and what do they hate?
Jim: “Certainly you are free to live in the dark as you choose ;)”
Ever heard of Plato’s cave?…
I think we are definally running the risk of TV media becoming polarized by political views.
I dont know how you can fix that though. No doubt having an unpopular viewpoint in the workplace could definally make working there less enjoyable. So i think its only natural all the journalists begin to pile into their stations that support their viewpoints of the world.
The only reason it hasnt happened earlier is there wasnt any TV news station that had conservative viewpoints, now they do.
According to the NY Times, Stossel was hired by the Fox Business Network. He will make appearances on Fox News, but his main gig will be a 1 hour prime time show on FBN.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/business/media/11fox.html
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Newspeaker (00:51:10) :
Jim: “Certainly you are free to live in the dark as you choose ;)”
Ever heard of Plato’s cave?…
**********
I don’t believe I had until now. Thanks! It certainly describes our relationship to the world outside our brain/mind. On second thought, it probably applies there also.
I also thought a bit more about what David in Davis said about liking NPR. The discussion panel on Fox News Sunday has two permanent panelists from NPR. Juan Williams and Mara Liasson.
Jim (20:15:12) : “Certainly you are free to live in the dark as you choose ;)”
I may be less ignorant than you think, being an independent voter with strong libertarian leanings. I don’t disagree with everything I’ve heard on FoxNews,
I just don’t like the way some of the folks there choose to say it and how they conduct themselves. I certainly don’t agree with a lot of what I rear on NPR talk radio either, and I’m well aware that the Rachael Maddows and Chris Matthews’ types on the left are not necessarily prone to fair and balanced either. I’ll try and catch the Sunday shows when I have the opportunity, but I’m not gonna buy cable to do it.
old conctruction (sic) worker (21:59:44) :
“Please name who at fox news are haters and what do they hate?”
Bill O’Reilly springs to mind. He seems to despise nearly everyone including his own crew, his teleprompter, and maybe even himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tJjNVVwRCY
Although the clip obviously caught him on a bad day, anger seems a large part of his normal diatribes. What does anger bring to the debate? To me, he just just coarsens and cheapens it and makes us old white guys look bad to boot. How many of the liberal sheep you’d like to see converted are going to tune in to Fox when this angry egomaniac is their poster boy? And how many that may do so out of curiosity are going to come back?
Now guys, could we get back to something we can agree on, like the science of global cooling? Thanks.
David
Another Stossel video:
http://www.iceagenow.com/Waiting_in_line_to_fill_your_tank.htm
David in Davis (10:40:11) :
Let’s not forget the human regurgitation know as “Bill Maher.”
Jim (13:32:23) :
As let’s not forget the former alcoholic, drug addict DeeJay, Glenn Beck (I never knew, but why am I not surprised?). Did he and Limbaugh abuse the same thing?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/09/13/2009-09-13_glenn_becks_rightwing_rants_go_way_too_far_critics_charge.html
~snip~
Why the snip Anthony? What other word fits in that blank. Guess you feel it’s so obvious it doesn’t need to be stated. I wouldn’t want Jim to think what was snipped was directed at him.
[Reply: I snipped the part of the comment where you appeared to be accusing another poster of intending to use the n-word. ~dbstealey, moderator]
db – Fair enough, that’s exactly what I was doing. I could be wrong, but since you have his email address, perhaps you could send him a query as to exactly what he (not Jim) did mean by “[person]”. If you’re going to leave his comment up, it seems to me you have an obligation to have him clarify it. We’re talking about the President of the United States. If I’m wrong, I’ll gladly apologize.
Poking nose where not requested:
[person] can be a substitute for any number of not-so-kind words or for a simple device to indicate internal struggle resolving to a generic.
A-h…
Jerk
Idiot
scum sucker
etc.
vs “he” “she” “it” …
David in Davis (10:40:11)
‘Bill O’Reilly springs to mind.’
Anger and hate are not the same thing.
The same holds true with Glen Beck.
I have never seen either one spew hate speech.
E.M.Smith (23:29:27) :
Possible. Better to say what is actually meant so as not to be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
[snip]
More on Fox News and the Mainstream (Un)Media:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/09/14/dan-gainor-acorn-media-ignore/
What the public thinks:
http://people-press.org/report/543/
[snip]
[snip – OK I’m putting the kibosh on this political discussion – Anthony ]
Good, it’s about time.
“they still have to travel another 4,000km (2,400 miles) by land to get to Stockholm.”
By LAND??
This is indicative of what I’m sure John Stossel had to put up with every week at his job. I’m not sure how to embed video here. I’ll give it my best shot:
[youtube=http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/ldXRB4U3vW0&hl=en&fs=1&]
If that doesn’t work, here’s the link to the video:
I doubt that the reason Stossel is moving to FBN is only because of his views on AGW. It’s because he’s a libertarian. He began his career as a liberal consumer advocate. That’s how he “won his seat”, so to speak, at ABC (and his many Emmy awards). I remember watching an interview where he talked about his conversion to libertarianism. He said he began his career believing that government had to step in to control the evil impulses of corporations, to protect the consumer. He said, possibly in a different setting, that when he began all his friends were leftists. Many were hippies. They all told him the same things, that capitalism was bad, corporations were evil, we’re destroying the planet, etc. It was only after doing his job for many years and observing the effect that government was having on people that he realized that its intervention was worse than what was happening with the private economy acting on its own. I don’t know when he made his switch, but I can vouch for his conversion. I remember when I was a teenager watching Stossel’s consumer advocacy segments, and they were just as he said. His message was consistent in that he talked about the bad things that had happened because of corporate action. I noticed the change in him in the 1990s when he started talking about the bad things that government was doing. He said once he made his conversion there were people in the office who wouldn’t even look at him, much less speak to him. He’s put up with this for years. I thank him for his sacrifice. He deserves what I’m sure will be a friendlier environment at FBN.
BTW, Stossel is not the only one who’s gone from ABC to Fox. Brit Hume was an important part of ABC’s news lineup until he went to FNC. He went to Fox many years ago. If you’ve ever listened to Brit’s commentary it’s clear that he is conservative-minded. He retired from reporting last year, though he makes occasional appearances on Fox news programs. Chris Wallace (son of Mike Wallace) was also one of ABC’s major reporters until he came to FNC a few years ago. He came aboard to host Fox News Sunday, a one-hour show that’s Fox’s answer to the network “inside the beltway” Sunday news talk programs, like Meet The Press.