for the flat earthers who deny climate change

Aunty would sell its grandmother to appease the Right
Andrew Dodd writes:


It’s just as well we humans have nothing to do with global warming because the amount of carbon the ABC is emitting to promote this apologia to right-wing conspiracy-thinking would thaw the Arctic tundra.

The ABC will simulcast The Great Global Warming Swindle tomorrow night on ABC TV and ABC 2 while pumping out debate on News Radio, local radio and online.

The investment might have been worthwhile if the program was any good or if there was some PR value in running it.

But there is neither. The documentary is a polemic. It raises some interesting points but it’s so wound up in whacko conspiracy theories as to make it laughable.

No-one is disputing that the ABC should air programs that are contrary. As ABC broadcaster Quentin Dempster told Crikey, "the freedom of expression argument wins. We all agree that a public broadcaster’s role is to inform and engage and to wade into controversies because we’re not here for partisan propaganda."

The problem is that the ABC’s embrace of this show demonstrates how Aunty would sell its grandmother at the moment to appease the right and that, as a consequence, the editorial barriers to entry are lower for producers peddling programs that set out to attack the shibboleths of the left.

I once marvelled at a freelancer’s bright idea of writing an article about "the twenty best newspapers in the world." It was pure genius because, when you think about it, there is no better way of ensuring one article runs in the twenty best newspapers in the world. The author must have known that each of the featured papers simply couldn’t resist publishing an article that ranked them in such elite company.

Well, now there is an equally clever way of having your pedestrian journalistic efforts embraced. Just find a public broadcaster that’s been beaten into almost complete submission by accusations of bias and offer it a get-out-of-jail-card in the form of a left-bashing diatribe about one of the most troubling issues on earth. The beauty of this idea is that the value of the program is inversely proportional to its journalistic credibility. The more nutty, the better it is at offsetting some of the criticism about left-wing bias.

But for this PR to work there should be no dissent in the ranks about the presentation of the program. The ABC’s head of factual entertainment, Denise Eriksen, should get out of the way and let talented professional journalists like Tony Jones get on with the job of questioning the program’s writer with all the rigour this topic demands.

Meanwhile, why wait for the ABC, check out the swindle here .

Send your tips to [email protected] or submit them anonymously here .


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3. Temperatures rise at ABC ahead of Swindle
An ABC insider writes:



There have been some amazing scenes at the ABC this week as it prepares to broadcast the controversial The Great Global Warming Swindle film tomorrow night.

Research by ABC appointed journalists has revealed serious flaws in the film's claims, to the point that the film seems to be willfully misleading -- if not downright fraudulent. The problem is that in allowing an 'answering' program to follow the documentary, and getting Rottweiler Tony Jones to present it, the ABC ends up looking foolish for showing the film in the first place.

Apparently Jones conducted a searching interview with the film's director, professional contrarian Martin Durkin in London last week. Perhaps too searching.

Outgoing head of popular factual programs, Denise Eriksen, unused to the rigorous standards of Jones and the News and Current Affairs Department, has been fighting a rearguard action to try and water down the tough approach. Insiders say she is acting on specific instructions from head of TV Kim Dalton who doesn't want to look foolish for agreeing to run the flawed film in the first place.

Eriksen was personally dispatched to London too, and behind Jones' back apologised to Durkin for the rough treatment and insisted on stacking the panel to discuss the film with climate denialists like Bob Carter.

The ABC's own science unit -- which Eriksen controls -- had been all but cut out of involvement in the preparations for the answering program. This despite Kim Dalton claiming its award-winning unit was up to the task of answering Durkin's claims.

Edit suites have been resounding all week to screams of outrage from Eriksen demanding that tough responses be cut out. Jones has more than once needed to make clear he will 'walk' rather than agree to a sanitised show. Eriksen has even gone as far as demanding a written rundown from Jones as to how he intends to conduct the live to air discussion after the Swindle film airs. He has refused to comply ... the stand-off may lead to a sudden change of presenter on Thursday night, so stay tuned.

Jeff McMullen has been asked to be on standby in case Jones refuses to be associated with Eriksen's intended whitewash. Meanwhile the ABC's own discussion board for the film is already full of dozens of complaints about the decision to screen the program. And official bodies, like the Bureau of Meteorology, so outraged at the film, are refusing to cooperate. Should be an interesting night!