In search of George Will's climate-denial sources

Last week we learned from the Washington Post's ombudsman that George F. Will had supplied a list of 20ish internet references to Post editors in support of his much-criticized Feb. 15 column. That column repeated his long-standing belief that the world is not warming according to the prevailing consensus of the world's climatologists. Now, Will claims to be on sound scientific footing and refuses to admit to the many errors that his critics say he keeps making. So it should not be surprising that the list of verifying sources that purport to support his arguments is of great interest to the science journalism community.

With that in mind, I wrote to the Post in hopes of getting a look at that list. Here is the ombudsman's reply to my request:

I think that would be up to Mr. Will's office, since it originated there and is clearly an internal document. As a syndicated columnist, he does not work in The Washington Post building. You can write him at: georgewill@washpost.com.

Best wishes,
Andy Alexander
Washington Post Ombudsman

As far as I'm concerned the story of how Will manages to misrepresent the science of climate change in column after column at a newspaper as respectable as the Washington Post won't be over until we have a good look at that list. So I have written to Will.

More like this

Back when I was an editor of a small-town community weekly, I had a bumper sticker affixed to one of my office walls with a simple message: "ASSUME NOTHING." One of my predecessors had left it behind. I really should get a new one because, like even the best journalists and bloggers, I need to be…
The Washington Post is facing criticism after refusing to issue a correction for an erroneous statistic cited by Op-Ed columnist George Will's column topic—that global sea ice levels are the same as they were in 1979. The statistic was summoned to support his column's viewpoint that global warming…
Is he being purposefully obtuse? Once again the ombudsman decides to defend George Will, but only on a single point. A key paragraph, aimed at those who believe in man-made global warming, asserted: "According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels…
I'm dwelling on George F. Will's latest violation of journalistic ethics because it seems to have hit a nerve. Journalists ordinarily too polite to attack another journalist for fear of appearing biased and unprofessional have broken with their habits to call Will on his misrepresentation of the…

"Things are worse than they can possibly be."

I think wee Willy was referring to the state of the media reporting on Climate Change.

Yeah, the "roughly 20" missing links. I bet they've lost the file by now.

The long silence about those makes me think their 'research' guy -- the ombudsman named him, but I've forgotten it -- most likely gave Will twenty links from sites at "the septic end of the bogusphere" that just repeating some standard talking points, and told Will it was "science."

By Hank Roberts (not verified) on 04 Mar 2009 #permalink