Some call for more balance in coverage of the issue. Generally, those appear to be skeptical of the global warming concept.
Others call for more coverage of the issue. Generally, they seem to think we have a real problem on our hands and the newspaper should provide more information and analysis. I agree.
After a story last month that blamed global warming for the deaths of thousands of penguins in Antarctica, Jim Lee objected to a secondary headline: “Harbinger of global warming.”
“Global warming is a theory, and so is this guy’s idea that penguins are an early warning system,” Lee said.
On Monday, the lead story said the number of tropical storms in the Atlantic has more than doubled over the past century and two researchers attributed the increase to rising ocean surface temperatures. Officials at the National Hurricane Center called that “sloppy science” and said the higher numbers were due to better observation.
A secondary headline on the story said, “Correlation: They say the increases have coincided with rising sea temperatures.” Tom Johnson called foul because the headline didn’t mention the other side.
“If a reader only scans your headline he would conclude that the Times-Union subscribes to global warming,” Johnson said.
Allen Tilley criticized the paper’s “general failure” to adequately cover Gov. Charlie Crist’s recent summit on climate change, which got national and international attention, and a recent Jacksonville Community Council Inc. study on air quality.
The JCCI report, released June 22, got no coverage until an editorial endorsed some of its recommendations on Tuesday.
Nor has the paper taken note that Mayor John Peyton recently joined some 600 other mayors in signing the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, which generally supports the Kyoto Protocols that have been rejected by President Bush.
While the coverage has fallen short in some areas, the newspaper did publish a 20-paragraph Associated Press story summarizing the governor’s conference.
The story and a three-column photo of Crist appeared on page B-4 on July 13, but John Brisling apparently missed it. He read about the governor’s initiatives in a half-page advertisement in which Environmental Defense, an advocacy group, praised Crist’s leadership on global climate change.
“If there is any reality to this it will cost Florida citizens money,” Brislin wrote. “Did I miss a big spread July 13?”
Indeed, Crist’s initiatives will cost money, as will the steps advocated by JCCI and Peyton.
Given the developments, not to mention apparent reader interest, the global warming story demands greater attention than it has received in this newspaper lately.
As for the headlines that drew complaints, such headlines can’t capture every nuance, but these two met the test of fairness, in my view.
While the July 13 story was adequate as far as it went, the governor’s bold and ambitious undertakings would seem to demand more explanatory coverage as well as review and commentary on the editorial page.
Crist signed executive orders to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions (reducing to 2000 levels by 2017); to mandate strict limits on emissions for cars sold in Florida (he wants to join California to lobby for limits more restrictive than the federal government requires); to require utilities to produce 20 percent of their power from renewable resources; and to have state building codes require buildings be 15 percent more fuel efficient by 2009.
The JCCI’s serious look at air quality issues called for such things as building codes to be revised, increased spending on mass transit and the appointment of a sustainability officer to, among other things, help implement the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement.
The mayor’s signature, which was affixed without fanfare, is a strong indication that he and others are convinced about the challenges of global warming and they are responding, even in the face of substantial opposition.
Dying penguins in Antarctica and increasing tropical storms on a warmer ocean make for good stories. So should significant developments closer to home.
