WTOP Earns Golden Ostrich Nomination

Last night as I was listening to WTOP radio, Shawn Anderson read a story about how polar bears are struggling with less ice and how the Pacific walruses is now considered threatened - without using the words "climate" or "global warming."

(Puts on Jon Gruden voice) Now, Shawn Anderson, you talk about THIS GUY, you talk about a guy who knows how to keep his head down. I mean, this guy knows if you point out scientific fact, people who find that politically inconvenient are just gonna get mad at ya! So why do it? YOU DON'T! I'm tellin' ya, you could put this guy in the middle of any controversy in any era - cigarettes causing cancer, CFCs destroying the ozone layer - and this guy's gonna give it his all to avoid giving you the whole story.

See the rest of the Golden Ostrich nominees, or if you see or hear a story that avoids or obfuscates climate science, email me your nomination.

Golden Ostrich Nominee: NYTimes Dodges Global Warming

Today's Oblivious Environmental Journalism Challenge: Can you write an article on this year's worldwide, record-shattering heat ... without using the words climate, global warming, carbon pollution, or man-made?

The New York Times' Erik Eckholm is up to the obfuscating task. His article on the summer heat wave here in the U.S. brilliantly walks a tightrope over the big picture without falling into the trap of connecting it to man-made emissions.

Watch has he even dares to stick his head in the mouth of the lion, mentioning the global records while still carefully avoiding giving his readers proper context:

The stifling heat blanketing the mid-Atlantic this summer seems to be part of a global trend. So far, 2010 is on track to overtake 2005 as the warmest year ever recorded for the planet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It's hardcore oblivious environmental journalism like this that keeps people thinking global warming is only about melting glaciers at some point in the distant future, not about Americans dying in heat waves right now.

Special Bonus Ostrich: Bloomberg News is always right, therefore anyone who thinks it might have screwed up reporting on oil drilling poll data is automatically wrong.

Today's Oblivious Environmental Journalism Challenge

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Write an article about how man-made carbon pollution could be having a detrimental effect on our upper atmosphere ... without using the phrases "climate change" or "global warming."

The news from NASA details how carbon pollution could be helping to shrink the thermosphere. But reporting on how carbon pollution is hurting our atmosphere without mentioning how it's also devastating our lower atmosphere through global warming ... well, that would be like reporting on a leaky roof without reporting the house is on fire ... right?

That's not stopping our contestants, because we have winners! CNN.com, UPI & Discovery News all win the Golden Ostrich for reporting on one problem without mentioning a directly connected, even bigger problem.

And what about blogs, which are supposed to see through the mainstream media's inadequate coverage & bring you the straight dope? Sorry, but Treehugger, Planet Save and Sustainability Ninja get Golden Parrots for simply re-writing the mainstream coverage without connecting the dots to climate.

Considering I'm heading to Netroots Nation in Las Vegas today, why am I bashing so many traditional & online reporters now? I may be setting myself to re-enact the tollbooth scene from The Godfather.

In all seriousness, it's a reminder that, as mainstream media layoffs lead to overworked/underpaid/overstressed reporters cranking stuff out as fast as they can, overworked/underpaid/overstressed bloggers cranking stuff out as fast as they can doesn't necessarily upgrade the public's knowledge.