Center for Communication & Civic Engagement

Lance Bennett, Director

www.engagedcitizen.org

Information ~ Technology ~ Community

@

Manufacturing Doubts about Science

How Media Spin Undermines Engagement with Public Problems

(smoking, AIDS, global warming etc.)

The Case of Climate Change

19

% who believe what corporations say about climate change

18

% who believe that climate change is real, human caused and harmful (ie, who believe what most scientists say)

Why is science not winning the battle against climate change denial?

The News: What to Believe?

typical US news report

the part of the story that gets buried

who is stirring up the controversy?

• since publics are skeptical of direct corporate propaganda….

– corporations hire PR firms – support think tanks (which support “experts”) – influence politicians and parties

all to create public doubt about science(to support political inaction)

Round 1: (1980s - 1990s) use PR to turn climate change and its advocates into a joke

• Western Fuels Assn, National Coal Assn & Edison Electric created front org Info Council on Environment (ICE) ~ hired PR firms and scientists to create misinformation campaigns– “If the earth is getting warmer why is Minneapolis

getting colder?”– ‘Some say the earth is warming. Some also said

the earth is flat”

but scientific consensus on human causes grew and ICE was exposed as direct corporate front

Round 2: (1990s-now) broaden the interest coalition ~ create better front organizations

(fund more think tanks) ~ attack the science

• Broad industry coalition (energy, chemical, cigarette, auto, food processing, biotechnology) + bigger PR firms create:

The Advancement of Sound Science Coalitionwhich created

Global Climate Science Communication Action Plan attack inconvenient findings as “unsound”

brand political actions based on science (Kyoto-Copenhagen) as out of touch with reality

creating plausible deniability

Independent, Feb 7, 2010

a look at the propaganda machine

1972-2005 141 books (in English) denied seriousness of environmental problems 130 were published by conservative think tanks or

authors working for them websites of 50 major conservative think tanks

45 promote environmentally skeptical policies28 received money from Exxon alone

Sources: Jacques & Freeman, Environmental Politics (2008); Hoggan Climate Cover-Up (2009)

and so, expert news sources multiply

Christopher Horner: uncovers socialist communist green conspiracy

Who is Christopher Horner?

Legal Counsel, Cooler Heads Coalition Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise InstituteRepresented CEI in lawsuits against the

government to stop distribution of reports on effects of climate change in the US

Funding: ExxonMobil

Round 3: (late 1990s – present)

rebrand the Republicans

Frank Luntz prepares vulnerability assessment for Republicans– environment was main vulnerability– but voters not convinced that science is settled

Com Strategy: rebrand the Republicans from climate deniers to science skeptics

Stop denying – act concerned – and start asking for greater scientific certainty

“make lack of scientific certainty” the issue

CHALLENGE THE SCIENCE

WAIT!

Science is not about certainty!!

How to respond to opposition demands for certainty?

Scientists not good at PR or performing in news dramas (think: Flock of Dodos)

Besides, scientists often think that deniers do not merit a response

Result –> Manufactured Controversy“Manufactroversy”

• Cases where – “scientific controversy does not exist inside the

scientific community but is successfully constructed for a public audience in order to achieve specific political ends”

~Leah Ceccarelli UW rhetoric scholar

Think: Smoking, AIDS, Intelligent Design, WMDs in IraqGlobal warming (human causes, tipping points)

politicians align with the Interests

politicians defending science appear partisan

news reports the political controversy

• Study of 928 articles on “global climate change” in peer reviewed science journals (1993-2003) found no major disagreement on human activity causing climate change – Naomi Oreskes, Science (2005)

• Study of 4 leading US newspapers 1998 – 2002 found 53% of articles included a denial or challenge to scientific claims– Boykoff & Boykoff.

J Environ Change (2003)

The Political Result

Polls

Public Confusion –> Cover for Political Inaction Source: Pew Survey Oct 2009

Pew American Priorities survey 2009

Dealing with Global Warming at bottom of US public priorities

US vs world opinion

Source: PIPA – Univ MD Poll 18,000 people, 19 nations July 2009

ways to change the game

join online knowledge and action networks

60% already get news from combo of on and offline sources

28% of internet users customize news feeds37% of internet users contribute to creation of

news (commenting, distributing to others, posting on SN sites)

Pew Internet & American Life Survey Mar 1, 2010

becoming a citizen expert

using the power of digital media

meet Liisa Antilla

Liisa’s link list• www.oneblueworld.blogspot.com (Liisa’s blog)• http://cses.washington.edu/cig/ (UW Climate Impacts Group)• www.yaleclimatemediaforum.org (Yale climate/media research)• http://environment.yale.edu/profile/leiserowitz/ (Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale expert on public opinion of climate change)• www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/gateway (UN: climate change)• http://www.planetark.org/enviro-news/ (Reuters Environmental news hub)• www.exxonsecrets.org (Greenpeace database on anti-climate funding)• http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/stop-esso (Greenpeace UK Stop Esso [Exxon] campaign – Liisa interned here 2003-4)• www.realclimate.org (blog run by international climate experts)• www.grist.org (Seattle based environmental online magazine.)• www.earthequitynews.blogspot.com (Earth Equity News from Climate Crisis Coalition – mainly climate news stories)• http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/ (NYT enviro blog started by Andrew Revkin – who, as of 1/29/10 is still blogging)• www.climate.org (nonprofit working on policymaking)• http://www.nwenergy.org/ (Local clean energy coalition)• www.heatisonline.org (climate news etc. by author/former journalist Ross Gelbspan)• www.climatesolutions.org (Seattle based group working on regional climate technology solutions)• http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/ (Stanford climate scientist/author with interest in media/communication)• http://www.350.org/en (350.org)• http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/thisisourmoment/ (NRDC Action Fund)• http://energyactioncoalition.org/ (Energy Action Coalition/Powershift activist group)• http://www.climatenetwork.org/ (Climate Action Network-CAN International)• http://www.fiacc.net/ (European “Future International Action on Climate Change Network”)• http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/ (Global Climate Campaign)• http://canadianclimateaction.wordpress.com/ (Canadians for Climate Action)• http://ec.europa.eu/climateaction/index_en.htm (European Commission - Climate Action)• http://climatechallenge.org/ (Climate Challenge.org)•

Liisa’s network

some tentative conclusions about developing more effective democratic communication

Stop looking to the news to clarify issues (use it to check on the political game)

Join digital info-action networksDebate the validity of special interests buying the

national conversationDevelop new communication strategies

communicating more effectively

with less propaganda and deception

Lee Bodner, Director, EcoAmerica

who would listen to this?

promote a healthy values debate

Must jobs be pitted against the environment?

Are there other ways to organize the economy? green tax incentives tax (and regulate) financial transactionschange trade policies: to stop exploiting the

environment & promote sustainable communities north and south

examine the effects of quarterly profit pressures on our capacity to value the future

What do we tell our children?

Lance Bennett, Director