Think Progress has this on news agencies turning to meteorologist William Gray for comment on Al Gore winning the Nobel Prize, and other climate change issues. He was brought on to balance all the Gore coverage by informing us that Gore is "brainwashing our children" and challenging the science in An Inconvenient Truth. But the problem isn't that the media touts him as one of the "world’s foremost meteorologists" or a "pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts." He is in fact pretty well-respected in the field of meteorology and hurricane research, or at least he was until he started going off the deep end on climate change, a field in which he has absolutely no scientific credibility these days.
The level of media attention Gray receives is inversely proportional to the level of respect he has today in the scientific community. His skepticism has won him plenty of play in the mainstream media, more than he ever got for his hurricane research. In recent years, he's become a darling to right-wingers who use his science credentials in meteorology to back up their scientifically unsound beliefs about climate. So the real problem here is that MSNBC and other major media outlets keep putting him forth as an expert on climate and climate change, which he isn't.
There are two underlying issues in that. First, it belies the gross lack of scientific understanding among reporters and news agencies. It's the same reason every heat wave is attributed to global warming, and every blizzard put forth as conclusive evidence that warming can't be as pressing a concern as those wacky environmentalists want to make us believe. This proves more about the failures of science education in this country and less about bias in mainstream media. The second underlying issue falls more into that camp – in an attempt to balance reporting on Gore's Nobel Prize and the issues he raises, news agencies dig up whatever schmuck they can find with a Ph.D. willing to berate Gore on national television, regardless of the fact that his climate change positions have been widely discredited. It's a false balance bias more than a massive rightwing conspiracy at this point, and the fact that Gray is called upon repeatedly as the skeptical voice is actually somewhat reassuring. There are fewer and fewer skeptics out there, and the mainstream media really has to trawl the bottom for "balance."
--Kate Sheppard
