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8/3/2019 Portrayals of Climate Change
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Portrayals of Climate Change
Part 1
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Module Learning Outcomes
• Be aware of developments in climate changeas they arise, and interpret them in their socio-
economic andpolitical context
• Develop keyresearch skills
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By the end of this session, you should:
• Have a different attitude towards information
• Be able to better identify bias & inaccuracy andfactors leading to them
• Be able to identify all main info sources for CC& evaluate their reliability
• Understand the peer-review process, with itsbenefits and drawbacks
• Have experienced real-life examples of biasand inaccuracy, and the factors leading to them
• Be able to assess how different portrayals ofclimate change may affect science and society
• Be more familiar with the assessment criteria
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1 Brainstorm: Information sources for climate change
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• Which sources are reliable?
•Would you be more likely to believe them if twoor more experts had vetted them first?
• Peer review: the best guide we’ve got
• What’s peer reviewed?
Fill in white-board
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The culprit
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3 Media Stunt
Write a short articlefor Leeds Student newspaper
• What happened
• Detailed descriptionof suspect
Topic formulation Original angle, well focused and new Well targeted Headline Short, snappy (and witty) Intro/ first paragraph Concise
Summarises article well - breath &prioritisation of material Main Content Well integrated into up-to-date context Coherently written and well prioritised
Style Easy to understand Appropriate length of sentences andparagraphs Notes to Editors Appropriate breadth of relevant material
• Compare stories
• Two possiblereasons fordifferences
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4 Benefits and drawbacks of peer review
More objective
Represents
academiccommunity
Improves quality Guides readers
Need qualified,contentious reviewer
Rivals can exploit Delays publication –
leaks may occur Author may not
agree with reviewer
When this happens,some resubmit untilpublishedsomewhere
+ -
What’s peer reviewed cont…
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Homework
• Read and mark the two essays forThursday
• Use Research Report assessmentcriteria
• Refer to Climate Change Glossaryfor technical language
Jump to 13?
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Portrayals of Climate Change
Part 2
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Essay marking exercise
• Compare marks with neighbour
• Concensus
• Which is the better essay?
• Essay 1: Schlesinger (1999) published in
• Essay 2: by Wojick (1999), published on theinternet by the “Greening Earth Society”
•Assessment criteria useful to evaluate published lit
•Research author credibility or rely on peer-review
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Rely on this?
Test this?
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The Media: Newspapers
Earlier this year the Royal Society asked thepublic if they agreed that:
“The media present science in a responsible way”
• Do you?• What was the response?
39%
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Case Study: Media coverage of COP6 Pt.1 versus
other stories in three national newspapers (6-
29th November 2000)
0200400600800
1000
12001400160018002000
COP 6 at
the
Hague
Fuel Duty UK
Floods
Elton
John
Court
Case
C o l u m n c e n t i m e t r e s
The Sun
The MirrorThe Daily Mai
The Telegrap
From Common (2000)
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Tabloids
• Stories about personalities that could be linked toEuropean politics
• Fuel duty not linked to carbon dioxide emissions
The idea that carbon dioxide emissions causeglobal warming is “wrong” (a “Distinguished
Science Writer”)
Failure of the Kyoto Protocol will 'doom mankind'
“It was revealed that Mount Everest was
MELTING because of global warming”
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Broadsheets
• More consistent
• Before, during and after the conference
But: • Conspiracy theories & little review of real issues:
„Real subtext' to transfer jobs & prosperity fromUSA to Europe and the developing world
• Unbalanced representation of scientific
consensus:
A 'significant number of experts' deny the linkfrom human activity to climate change.
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IIASA-CLIMATE CHANGE 'WILL HIT THE HUNGRY'
(BBC)
UK 'HIDING SCALE OF CLIMATE THREAT' (BBC,
Guardian, Scotsman) USINESS CHIEFS THROW WEIGHT BEHIND
KYOTO (Financial Times)
HEAT IS ON IN GREECE (BBC News)PRESERVING THE SPIRIT OF KYOTO (Financial
Times) DON'T DEBATE, DO SOMETHING ON CLIMATE
CHANGE (Financial Times)
KYOTO CENTRE BOOSTS UK DRIVE TO CURB
GREENHOUSE GASES (DETR)
What influences media portrayals?
• Need to sell newspapers
• Fit reader’s views
• Subtle differences between UK & US headlines
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G8 TASK FORCE-US OPPOSES PLAN FOR CLEAN
ENERGY (NY Times) MALDIVIANS KEEP EYE ON CLIMATE CHANGE,
SEA LEVELS (NY Times) UTILITY PLANS TO PUT LIMITS ON ITS PLANTS
(NY Times, WSJ) US-SEN. MCCAIN CRITICAL OF GLOBAL WARMING
(NY Times) BUSINESS GROUPS READY FOR FIGHT OVER
ENERGY (Chicago Tribune) NUCLEAR POWER'S NEW DAY (NY Times) THE WORLD DOESN'T GET THE SCIENCE RIGHT
(LA Times)
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The Media: TV news and documentaries
• More reliable?
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Internet
• Powerful tool
• Be wary – little is peer-reviewed
• Internet sources least likely to contain biasand inaccuracy:
Online peer-reviewed journals (Web of Science)
Information from University websites
www.scirus.com
Government and institute websites?
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• Internet sources most likely to contain bias andinaccuracy:
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The SmallPrint:
A nonprofitarm of the
WesternFuels
Association
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Identifying reliable internet content
• Is the author named?
• Is the author credible (trace CV & other work)
• (Use this information to reference it properly!)
• Is the information sourced properly?
• Evidence of peer-review (credits inacknowledgements, publication policy)
• Does it contradict information from othersources I know to be reliable?
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Books
• Often “pre-reviewed” - book concept• Only positive reviews appear on book sleeve
• Negative reviews may abound in journals
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Example: Lomborg’s The Skeptical Environmentalist
“This is one of the most valuable books on public policy -not merely on environmental policy - to have been writtenfor the intelligent reader in the past ten years… The Skeptical Environmentalist is a triumph.”
The Economist
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“His account offers nothing new or insightful, and readers
would do far better to read the IPCC reports themselves andreach their own conclusions.”
Science “It is a mass of poorly digested material, deeply flawed in its
selection of examples and analysis. . . [It is] like a bad exampaper . . . The bias towards non-peer-reviewed material over
internationally reputable journals is incredible.An industry has arisen debunking this book chapter bychapter. At present, it includes a website; a series of essaysplanned for Scientific American ; a guide for journalists
documenting Lomborg's [worst] errors being assembled bythe Union of Concerned Scientists; and various publishedpamphlets. We have provided only a sampler.”
Nature
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Journals
• Difference between science magazines (e.g.New Scientist & Scientific America) and peer-reviewed journals with primary research
• “Top flight” versus “up-and-coming”
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Implications of different portrayals for
Science and Society
Discuss:
• What information sources influence publicopinion most?
• In a democracy, what should set governmentpolicy and spending agendas?
• Who funds most climate-related research in
Britain?• How do researcher’s prioritise their research?
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Summary
You should (in theory!) now:
• Have a different attitude towards information
• Be able to better identify bias & inaccuracy andfactors leading to them
• Be able to identify all main info sources for CC &evaluate their reliability
• Understand the peer-review process, with itsbenefits and drawbacks
• Have experienced real-life examples of bias and
inaccuracy, and the factors leading to them• Be able to assess how different portrayals of climate
change may affect science and society
• Be more familiar with the assessment criteria