When Science Journals Become Activists - by Patrick T Brown

When Science Journals Become Activists - by Patrick T Brown - PATRICK T BROWN

• Spinning climate data to fit a policy agenda undermines public faith in science.

"Public trust in many mainstream publications continues to consistently decline. 

Part of the reason for this seems to be that media outlets cater more and more to the ideological tastes of specific groups, sacrificing their credibility to a wider audience in the process. 

I have criticized the New York Times, for example, for exaggerating the impacts of climate change, but this type of criticism may be in vain if they are covering climate exactly how their audience wants them to...
Two recent articles serve to illustrate the point.
The first is titled:

• Surge in extreme forest fires fuels global emissions. Climate change and human activities have led to more frequent and intense forest blazes over the past two decades.

The second is titled:

• Climate change is also a health crisis—these graphics explain why…Rising temperatures increase the spread of infectious diseases, claim lives, and drive food insecurity.

Between these two news articles, we have four claims: 

• one on wildfires, 
• one on infectious disease, 
• one on deaths, and 
• one on food security. 

Let’s scrutinize each claim one by one.

• Are wildfires and their carbon emissions increasing?...