Consultant Dan
14 July 2011
Media crap about climate change 101
Today PM Gillard spoke at the National Press Club and 7’s Mark Riley asked her about the media’s role in hyping up conflict in the climate debate and whether she had any advice about how to do better journalism. She said ‘Don’t write crap’.
I think perhaps should have added, ‘Don’t speak it’, just to make clear where the boundaries are.
For example, the ABC Drum tonight had 2UE’s John Stanley and the Telegraph’s Joe Hildebrand attacking PM Julia Gillard for lying about whether she would implement a carbon tax.
They never explain that Gillard never rejected cap and trade, only a carbon tax.
The current proposal in the Clean Energy Future is for a temporary tax that becomes a cap and trading scheme.
The Liberal Party has attacked Gillard for breaking a promise but never made the case that there is any issue of substance which distinguishes a tax from a trading scheme.
What I wonder is whether either John or Joe understand the difference between a tax and a cap and trading scheme?
Are they outraged because they think that a cap and trade is great but a tax is terrible? What is the basis of the outrage? Or are they just repeating the Liberal Party’s talking points?
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And he seemed to be in high dudgeon about her request. I would suggest that it would be very very difficult for Joe Hildebrand to be able to differentiate between “crap” and “fact” – after all – he is a Murdoch foot-soldier. I would be practising my fact-writing skills if I were him, as it may just come to pass that legitimate news reportage will be a requirement for a journalist, in the brighter (and clearer-skied!) future.