Monday, March 19, 2012

Compare And Contrast

THE AUSTRALIAN and The Age both report on carbon pricing. The Age's story is here and the Australian's here.

As a field test, read both and decide which is stenography and which is reporting.
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18 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 19, 2012 at 12:58 AM

    The one with the paywall? Is there a prize?

    ReplyDelete
  2. BunyipMarch 19, 2012 at 1:05 AM

    No prize, just for interest's sake. You know how to get around the paywall, right?

    Copy the headline, paste in google, click the search result. Bingo, you're in!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walter PlingeMarch 19, 2012 at 11:33 AM

      Works for the Wall Street Journal too.

      Delete
  3. DeadmanMarch 19, 2012 at 1:15 AM

    Yet The Australian, on Saturday, had Mike Steketee assert that science is determined by a consensus of the Government’s lackeys and, today, it has the Climate Commissioner (and inquisitor of the Collegio di Propaganda Fide), Prof. Will Steffen, assert that
    drought may lead to droughts.
    Both columns, however, were so poorly argued that the editor may be using the stupid Steketee and Steffen to ridicule the pseudo-scientific conjecture of CAGW.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMarch 19, 2012 at 4:55 AM

      Doubtful. The Australian has a firm pro-AGW, carbon-tax-forever editorial stance so the editor probably thought they were just peachy. (I should add that the Australian does print opposing op-eds. Occasionally.)

      One wonders, given how much people have invested in this fraud - not just in terms of money- what it would take for them to abandon it, much less be able to do so while saving face.

      Delete
  4. BlogstropMarch 19, 2012 at 6:35 AM

    Why is it ok for the Fairfax/ABC hive mind to quote the Climate Institute on an almost daily basis, since it is funded to lobby one point of view only? The same people are hypocritical in saying all the sceptics are funded by Big Fossil or somesuch, when they aren't. And is that GE an energy company, or the finance company?

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    Replies
    1. MeganMarch 19, 2012 at 8:54 AM

      GE is the finance company with significant investment in energy projects. Not that I have a suspicious mind at all but the “We are all going to a very hot future hell” disaster scenario began to gain traction not long after GE invested heavily in wind farms. They are raking in government subsidies globally.

      Delete
  5. HRTMarch 19, 2012 at 7:18 AM

    I don't think Bob Woodward would get a gig at The Age:

    “The job of journalism is not stenography. It is getting the full story and the meaning of that story,” said Woodward, the author of 11 best-selling books, including All the President’s Men (with Bernstein), and, most recently, State of Denial: Bush at War Part III - September 2007

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  6. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.March 19, 2012 at 7:51 AM

    In general Prof, you get what you pay for. An honest report on the price of carbon pricing is offered by the Oz. A muddle of ideological positioning is offered by The Age, with nary a thought about costs. Now and then, perhaps fearing another screaming and retributive telephone call from our lovely PM, the Oz runs some fluffy pieces from the Government's paid help, to keep the warmist flag flying. Balance, you see. Unknown at Fairfax.

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  7. MinicaptMarch 19, 2012 at 8:13 AM

    This might be interesting as well:
    http://thecanadian.org/item/1355-review-of-bcs-dysfunctional-carbon-tax-aims-for-repairs-in-2013-pre-election-budget

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  8. JazzaMarch 19, 2012 at 8:13 AM

    Riddle me this:
    If all the Pravda on the Yarra can do is cut and paste handouts from the body politic in all its ugly leeching forms, why does it bother with so many ants running around its nest?

    Surely it would take only a few plus their photocopier to progress their current daily output of tripe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MeganMarch 19, 2012 at 8:57 AM

      Wish I knew the answer. And the despair I feel when the worker ants at the academic campus where I work pick it up and fawn over it while giving me the stink eye for reading the Oz in the lunch room...

      Delete
    2. Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.March 19, 2012 at 10:16 AM

      I feel your pain, Megan. Academia and its surrounds is such a tough culture to exist within when you have a different point of view, even to the limited extent of carrying The Australian into the tearoom.

      They're all for academic freedom and free enquiry though. No question about it, our universities are places of unfettered examination and expression of all opinions and aspects of a topic. Fearless investigators and defenders of intellectual rigor.

      Or is that rigor mortis?

      Delete
  9. GeorgeMarch 19, 2012 at 9:00 AM

    This is outrageous:

    "The study, backed by think tank the Climate Institute and multinational GE"

    Big Industry is funding an AGW scare story. GE should be kicked out of the exchange. On the other hand, perhaps it will help them to sell more gas turbines .........

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  10. AnonymousMarch 19, 2012 at 9:19 AM

    Blogstrop(12.35pm) Disbelieve anything that GE is involved with. They are one of the most influential, and greedy, lobby groups in this whole scam. They are easily the best placed to make a fortune out of it.
    GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt was..."named to Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.[6] He was also named one of the five worst Non-Financial-Crisis-Related CEOs of 2008 by the Free Enterprise Action Fund.[7] Since taking over, GE's stock has dropped nearly 60%"...yet....

    "In February 2009, Immelt was appointed as a member to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn.[11]
    "On January 21, 2011, President Obama announced Immelt's appointment as chairman of his outside panel of economic advisers, succeeding former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker."

    In Obama's State of the Union address in 2010 he announced massive funding for high-speed US rail to cut CO2 emissions...and promote jobs....

    "In April 2009, as required by ARRA, the FRA released its strategic plan describing the agency's vision for developing high-speed rail in the United States.[6] As potential funding targets, the plan formally identified ten corridors[22]"
    "The FRA received grant applications from states for stimulus funds and FY 2009 intercity capital funds in August and October 2009[25] Over $57 Billion in requests were filed from 34 states."

    And here's the kicker....

    "GE Transportation is the largest producer of diesel-electric locomotives for both freight and passenger applications in North America, believed to hold up to a 70% market share.[4] It also produces related products, such as railroad signaling equipment, and parts for locomotives and railroad cars, as well as providing repair services for GE and other locomotives." 'Nuff said?

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  11. AnonymousMarch 19, 2012 at 10:22 AM

    Apart from the proper highlighting of the involvement of GE (the most obvious and important Obama crony capitalist - even to the extent of paying NO tax), I answer the ‘reporting’ question in favour of the Australian, but I also want to highlight the “PR” angle of the Fairfax piece, a story based on a single report with no depth or challenge. And a report from a lobby group at that. Now this “PR” stuff is something which certain academic journalism people submitted to Finkelstein was so bad about current Australian media. No doubt Simons and others will tear Fairfax to shreds over this latest example?
    M Ryutin Sydney

    ReplyDelete
  12. SuppliceMarch 19, 2012 at 4:01 PM

    Back in 2009, I was working on a construction job, for the main contractor for the erection and installation of a GE kerosene/natural gas fired power station. GE sent over a couple of their field engineers as technical advisers (for all the good it did). I got know know two of them pretty well, and over a few beers one admitted that more then a few lines in China had been switched over from conventional plant manufacture to wind tower and turbines, and that there was a three year waiting list on their exisiting production models. To say that General Electric is heavily invested in the pro-AGW/alternative energy fad would be a jaw-dropping understatement, CEO's own statements aside.

    ReplyDelete
  13. sfwMarch 26, 2012 at 9:28 PM

    So tell me, how was the fishing? Were you on the fly or bait? What worked and what didn't. Glad you're back.

    ReplyDelete

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