[See UPDATES beneath the fold]
This isn’t a post in its own right, just a collection of the legion of links rightly and roundly spanking George Will and the Washington Post for their utter lack of journalistic integrity in failing to correct Will’s denialist claims about climate change. I am submitting them to the Washington Post’s “reader’s ombudsman” Andy Alexander as well as the Columbia Journalism Review and encourage others to do the same. Perhaps a full week of open mockery will entice a correction in this coming Sunday’s paper.
[UPDATE: Andy Revkin of Dot Earth/The New York Times has penned what I and several others consider a piece of puzzling and disappointing false equivalency between Will and Al Gore as well as a Dot Earth post that stinks a bit of apologia and is lacking a substantive answer to the complaint. Reactions to Revkin start at 2/25/09.]
[LATE LATE UPDATE: Will is apparently going to stand by his garbage in a new column. And more disgustingly, he seems to be doing so with the full backing of Hiatt. More tomorrow (2/27/09).]
[LAST? UPDATE: I'm collecting responses to Will's latest column here. I may integrate them with this post at some point, but it's getting a little hairy at the moment.]
Mr. Will? You have arrived at your final destination.
In roughly reverse chronological order:
Carl Zimmer, The Loom/DiscoBlogs – Unchecked Ice: A Saga in Five Chapters [2/27/09]
Dylan Matthews, The Harvard Crimson – To Tell the Truth [2/27/09]
Jamison Foser, County Fair/Media Matters – WaPo goes all in [2/26/09]
Curtis Brainard, The Observatory/Columbia Journalism Review – The George Will Affair [2/26/09]
William Connolley, Stoat/SciBlogs – “Will” I be able to think of a witty title for this post? [2/26/09]
Carl Zimmer, The Loom/DiscoBlogs – George Will: Locked In Ice! [2/26/09]
A. Siegal, Get Energy Smart Now – Will’s whining … defending the indefensible … [2/26/09]
Zachary Roth, TPMMuckraker/TPM – In New Column, Will Sticks To His Guns On Global Warming [2/26/09]
Matthew Yglesias, CAP – The George Will Scandal and the Decline of Great American Newspapers [2/25/09]
Brad Johnson, The Wonk Room/CAP – The New York Times Attacks Gore For Trusting The New York Times [2/25/09]
Michael Tobis, Only In It For The Gold – Revkin Beyond the Pale [2/25/09]
Richard Monastersky, The Great Beyond/Nature – Who Needs the Cold Facts? [2/24/09]
Chris Mooney, Science Progress – The George Will Scandal [2/24/09]
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic Monthly – One final note on George Will [2/23/09]
Steve Benen, Washington Monthly – IRONY WATCH [2/22/09]
Brad Johnson, The Wonk Room/CAP – A Suggested Correction For Will’s ‘Dark Green Doomsayers’ Column [2/22/09]
Jeremy Jacquot, DeSmogBlog – Skeptics Need to Chill About Global Cooling [2/22/09]
Carl Zimmer, The Loom/DiscoBlogs -A Wrinkle In Ice (or Not) [2/22/09]
A. Siegal, Get Energy Smart Now – Will-ful Deceit: three blunt examples [2/21/09]
Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic Monthly – Fact-Checking The Washington Poobahs [2/21/09]
Carl Zimmer, The Loom/DiscoBlogs – You Call That Fact-Checking? [2/21/09]
A. Siegal, Get Energy Smart Now – WashPost Embraces Will-Ful Deceit [2/21/09]
Brian Schmidt, Backseat driving – The Post doesn’t actually claim to have fact-checked George Will [2/21/09]
Jamison Foser, County Fair/Media Matters – In support of shunning [2/20/09]
Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic Monthly – Keeping Them Honest [2/20/09]
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic Monthly – Hilzoy bumrushes the Post [2/20/09]
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic Monthly- George Will and Intellectual Honesty [2/20/09]
Matthew Yglesias, CAP – Washington Post Stands By Climate Change Denialism [2/20/09]
Zachary Roth, TPM Muckraker/TPM – Post Ombudsman Responds, Unconvincingly, On Will Column [2/20/09]
The Way Things Break – The Washington Post’s “fact-checking” process is a disgrace [2/20/09]
Chris Mooney, The Intersection/SciBlogs – George Will is Not Entitled to His Own Facts [2/20/09]
Ryan Avent, The Bellows – Snap [2/20/09]
PZ Myers, Pharyngula/SciBlogs – I wish I were a Republican, so I could just make stuff up [2/20/09]
Hilzoy, Obsidian Wings/Washington Monthly – The Washington Post’s “Multi-Layer Editing Process” [2/20/09]
Tim Lambert, Deltoid/SciBlogs – Washington Post rejects the concept of objective facts [2/20/09]
Brian Beutler – Department of corrections and Ezra Klein, The American Prospect – DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS. [2/19/09]
CapitalClimate – Where There’s a Will . . . No Way [2/19/09]
Dave Schmitz, Letters to the Editor/Washington Post - Making Carbon Sound Cool [2/19/09]
Carl Zimmer, The Loom/DiscoBlogs – The Sea Ice Affair, Continued [2/19/09]
George Monbiot, The Guardian – George Will’s climate howlers [2/18/09]
John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal – Cherry-Picked Facts Heat Up Climate Debate [2/18/09]
Curtis Brainard, The Observatory/Columbia Journalism Review – Lingering Denial [2/18/09]
Brian Schmidt, Backseat driving – Where George Will got his sea ice nonsense [2/18/09]
The Progress Report, ThinkProgress/CAP – Will-fully Wrong [2/18/09]
Brad Johnson, The Wonk Room/CAP – George Will Believes In Recycling [2/17/09]
Ryan Avent, The Bellows – Chilly Willy [2/17/09]
Robert Grumbine, More Grumbine Science – Neither politicians nor political commentators [2/17/09]
Matthew Yglesias, CAP – Time for a Blogger Ethics Panel [2/17/09]
Carl Zimmer, The Loom/DiscoBlogs – George Will: Liberated From the Burden of Fact-Checking [2/16/09]
Ezra Klein, The American Prospect – WHERE DOES GEORGE WILL GET HIS GLOBAL WARMING FACTS? [2/16/09]
Andrew Dessler, Gristmill/Texas A&M – Attack of the zombies: global cooling! [2/16/09]
Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight – Will Omitted Key Context in Ice Age Quote [2/16/09]
Matt Corley, Think Progress/CAP – George Will makes up facts in his column denying global warming. [2/16/09]
Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight – George F. Will Takes on Science, Loses Credibility [2/16/09]
Steve Benen, Washington Monthly – BAD WILL HUNTING [2/16/09]
Brad DeLong, Grasping Reality with Both Hands – George F. Will as Crank Conspiracy Theorist [2/16/09]
Ezra Klein, The American Prospect – GEORGE WILL EMBRACES PALIN-ISM. [2/16/09]
A. Siegal, Get Energy Smart Now – WashPost: Complicit in Disformation (or explicit collaboration)? [2/15/09]
The Cryosphere Today [one of Will's supposed sources]:
February 15, 2009
In an opinion piece by George Will published on February 15, 2009 in the Washington Post, George Will states “According to the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.”
We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979. This decrease in sea ice area is roughly equal to the area of Texas, California, and Oklahoma combined.
It is disturbing that the Washington Post would publish such information without first checking the facts.
John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal – George Will and the Global Cooling Scare [2/15/09]
Bradford Plumer, The Vine/The New Republic – Can George Will Save The “Global Cooling” Myth? Uh, No. [2/15/09]
James Hrynyshyn, Island of Doubt/SciBlogs – The importance of actually reading what you cite [2/15/09]
David Roberts, Gristmill – George Will is an idiot [2/15/09]
Joe Romm, Climate Progress/CAP – Is George Will the most ignorant national columnist? [2/15/09]
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Great list of how bad it was. I’ve noted that the Post doesn’t claim to have “fact-checked” the column, just to have edited it, but tried to give the impression that they fact-checked it:
http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2009/02/post-doesnt-actually-claim-to-have-fact.html
[Thanks, added. - TB]
Wince. I just noticed that “The Slot” is by a WaPo copy editor, though he says “the Slot is not affiliated with The Post — my comments here may or may not reflect Post style.” He’s a good copy editor and writer. Just, the irony, it burns.
This is an excellent list. Thank you.
Some more for you …
http://getenergysmartnow.com/2009/02/15/washpost-complicit-in-disformation-or-explicit-collaboration/
http://getenergysmartnow.com/2009/02/21/washpost-embraces-will-ful-deceit/ (my less comprehensive list)
http://getenergysmartnow.com/2009/02/21/will-ful-deceit-three-blunt-examples/
Oh … also .. another Chris Mooney piece: http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/02/the-george-will-scandal/
[Added all of them. Thanks. - TB]
Pingback: WashPost Embraces Will-Ful Deceit
Pingback: Will’s whining … defending the indefensible …
Ready for lots more? Sigh … there are much more enjoyable things to write about. I’ve got a few links discussing Will’s piece today at: http://getenergysmartnow.com/2009/02/26/wills-whining-defending-the-indefensible/
Continuing to update my links, linking to you … between the two of us might have a good set of references?
Sigh … what a case study of journalism ethics (or lack of it). Romm’s piece hits hard: http://climateprogress.org/2009/02/27/in-a-journalistic-blunder-reminiscent-of-the-janet-cooke-scandal-the-senior-editors-of-the-washington-post-let-george-will-reassert-several-climate-falsehoods-plus-some-new-ones
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Don’t know if you are still keeping the time line, but here are several more entries on the issue from Media Matters
[At some point this week I hope to update them, so thanks. And if you have any more, please keep them coming. - TB]
Schulman: Warm up to the facts about global warming
Jeremy Schulman, SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
Austin Daily Statesman, Sunday, March 01, 2009
County Fair: Ombudsman Alexander faults Wash. Post editors, Will in global warming column controversy
Friday, February 27, 2009
County Fair: RE: Fred Hiatt
Friday, February 27, 2009
County Fair: WashPost’s Fred Hiatt plays dumb for George Will
Friday, February 27, 2009
County Fair: WaPo goes all in
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Lashing out at critics, George Will spreads more falsehoods in new global warming column
Thursday, February 26, 2009
NY Times drew false equivalence between Will and Gore
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
County Fair: Environmental groups, Media Matters team-up calling on WaPo ombudsman for George Will correction
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
County Fair: They get letters (lots of letters)…about George Will
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
County Fair: Albuquerque Journal science columnist rips George Will’s climate column to shreds
Monday, February 23, 2009
County Fair: They get letters…about George Will
Monday, February 23, 2009
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It’s too bad newspapers have become so slanted in their reporting. It’s almost as bad as the cable news channels.
-Mike
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