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:
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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My view is that AR5 is going to stillborn, mainly because it is already outdated by new science that won’t be included.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
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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:
I have just sent the following email to RS.
A genuine query on my part. I honestly don’t expect a response. If I do I’ll post it up here.
————————————————————————————————————–
Dear Sir
I would hope that you would see fit to respond to my query.
Can you exlain to me how the article by Jeff Goodell ( http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warming-is-very-real-20130912?print=true ) accurately represents the views of Anthony Watts of the climate blog Watts Up With That?
Encapsulating Mr Watts response to a single word (“stillborn”) is not worthy. Surely a misrepresentation? ( http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/12/on-the-cover-of-the-rolling-stone-not-quite-but-i-did-get-a-single-word-in/#more-93721 )
By the way, they are cooling towers not smoke stacks. It would have been at least honourable to state the correction.
Thank you kindly for at least reading my concerns. I will be posting a copy of this email on WUWT so all are in the loop.
Andy Jones
and there’s more from Rolling Stone: Disgraceful journalism.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719
Anthony – you forgot the first law of climate “science” –
“Never trust a man in a wooly hat”
Yes it’s steam, we can see it’s steam … I wonder how it got so steamy.
Unfortunately Anthony, journalists like Jeff Goodell don’t understand words like “climate sensitivity” or “ENSO” – neither do most of their audience. You can’t relate to them in those terms.
Ummm I know I am being nitpicky but I don’t see any chimneys, just water cooling towers. Are you sure this is actually a coal fired power station? The conveyors suggest yes, but there are usually tall chimneys interspersed with the water cooling towers – any idea where this is?
Is Rolling Stone actually relevant to anything / anyone but aging dope heads nowadays?
At least they interviewed you before. With me, they just made stuff up and I sent in an extensive rebuttal fact by fact to their jibberish. Look at it this way, at least we made the deniers of Climate Science poster
Since others have invoked the immortal Dr Hook earlier in this thread, may I offer their explanation as to why these eco-nuts seem to ignore all the mounting evidence against AGW?
They got stoned and they missed it.
They also, of course, did Algore’s theme tune “The Millionaire”. True Prophets of Pop!
Afterwards Jeff probably jumped in his big SUV and drove back to his big well lit well furnished, air conditioned home, with not so much as a thought for the 1.4 billion or so people with no access to electricity. Its tough work saving the world aint it Jeff?
RobRoy says:
September 12, 2013 at 1:10 pm
For some reason, my son began receiving this rag at my address FOR FREE.
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actually the free issues are valuable. when stockpiled, they can be burned to heat the house to offset the effects of climate change that occurs every winter. and it is sustainable.
with the right burner, junk mail is your friend. who else will send you free fuel right to your doorstep? as a bonus, the ash makes a handy grit to spread on the sidewalks when it gets icy.
Sorry Anthony, just one look at his photo and you should have known better!
JPeden says: @ur momisugly September 12, 2013 at 10:03 pm
Yeah, Aloe Blacc sounds pretty good alright. I’ve been thinking that the Blues is still out there, but that I just haven’t seen it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
If you like ragtime piano too. Search “Tom Brier” and “razor blades” (I never knew humans had ten fingers on each hand and that they could move that fast!)
It’s hydrogen pollution 🙂
Foxgoose says: @ur momisugly September 13, 2013 at 1:14 am
Anthony – you forgot the first law of climate “science” –
“Never trust a man in a wooly hat”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Anyone else see the irony of the guy in a woolly hat with snow in the background and frost on his beard, talking of ‘Global Warming’
H/T to Anthony for a very appropriate picture.
Why is there even going to be an IPCC AR5? The science is settled.
Who is Gerald Galt?
I think the lesson, Anthony, is that journalists for these kinds of publications (NYT, Rolling Stone, anything on the hard left) are only going to look for ways to quote you out of context. You can still talk to them, but you’ll have to use kid gloves. It’s clear this reporter never had any intent of treating you fairly.
Rolling Stone is a wretched excused for a publication. I canceled my subscription awhile back in large part due to their flagrant climate alarmism.
Anthony,
Look on the bright side. When the report is, indeed, “stillborn,” you’ll be proven concisely correct. No one reading RS was going to read all the other stuff anyway, but they’ll remember “stillborn” and might even start to wonder…
This publication has called to Yoko Ono a musician on several occasions, good bye credibility!
HankHenry says:
September 12, 2013 at 7:50 pm
Jeff Goodell recommending geoengineering solutions based on faulty climate models is literally a “bridge to nowhere”. And a horrendously expensive one at that!
Don’t regret doing the right thing, Anthony. You made an effort to tell the truth. You can’t control what the media outlets do with it. That most media isn’t interested in the facts, only their narrative, is just the way thing currently are. A sad state of affairs, to be sure, but that should never discourage you from speaking to them. Eventually the truth wins out.
The first photo was probably deemed unacceptable because it shows all that “carbon pollution” disappearing within the picture frame. Can’t have low-information activists confused now, can we? They just might start thinking.
Having reread the article, it truly is wretched. Biases, inaccuracies, and cherry picking abound.
The big story these days is that climatologists are reassessing and scaling back their projections of run-away global warming. Sensitivity to CO2 forcing appears to have been over estimated. In the coming years, we may well see increasing numbers of climatologists condemn the more extreme and self-serving alarmist predictions.
Rolling Stone Magazine has glossed over this development. Its readers are now ill-prepared to understand the state of climate science, having been convinced that it is settled.
That’s not carbon emission from those coal plants. It’s the highly dangerous Dihydrogen Monoxide, which has been shown to be an even more dangerous greenhouse gas. Large concentrations have led to death, property damage in the hundreds of billions of dollars, propagation of illness, and vast environmental damage.
It must be banned immediately.