Posted: Feb 21, 2012 10:03 am
FACT-MAN-2 wrote:Spearthrower wrote:Alan B wrote:That's understandable. The BBC, like any other member of the media circus, hasn't got the science trained staff to really appreciate what the scientists are talking about.
So, since they are in the business of selling news, they opt-out of having to think, and instead they pander to the more 'news-worthy' loud-mouthed illiterati - especially those with money behind them.
But I would like to think better of the BBC.
Sorry, I gave the wrong impression there. I don't mean that Richard Black (the environmental journalist) is to blame, but rather that all his articles are followed by numerous BBC members - membership allows you to comment on articles - who are the most ardent reality-deniers I've ever seen.
Look down to the comments:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17048991
He has a serious following. It doesn't matter if he's writing about tuna stock depletion, these people will write dozens of comments on 'climate alarmism'.
I'd rather expect that many of them are paid to write comments in such venues, yunno, like a nickle a word or something. This is a well known fact of life on many US sites that run a positive line on climate change, they are sometimes overwhelmed with comment posts which are little more than Heartland Institute talking points, the same old blather.
There don't even need to be many of them. With the right software a few can appear as a crowd.
I recommend reading this (somewhat scary) article on DailyKOS: UPDATED: The HB Gary Email That Should Concern Us All
Excerpt from the article:
According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HBGary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated "persona management" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally cross-contaminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online.