Post by Teddy Bear on Jan 7, 2010 14:51:25 GMT
[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1241209/BBC-probes-bias-science-coverage.html
]BBC probes bias in its coverage of science and the environment
]BBC probes bias in its coverage of science and the environment
By Paul Revoir
Last updated at 8:17 AM on 07th January 2010
The body which oversees the BBC is to launch a full-scale review into whether its coverage of science and the environment is biased.
The BBC Trust acted after a string of complaints that the corporation is acting as a cheerleader for the theory that climate change is a man-made phenomenon.
There have also been concerns over its coverage of genetically-modified foods and the MMR vaccine.
The year-long investigation will establish whether the complaints are justified – and could result in guidelines on how to treat important scientific stories.
It will scrutinise the way the BBC has handled scientific debate in areas which affect ‘public policy’ and are ‘matters of political controversy’.
Richard Tait, BBC trustee and chairman of the governing body’s editorial standards committee, said: ‘Science is an area of great importance to licence fee payers, which provokes strong reaction and covers some of the most sensitive editorial issues the BBC faces.
‘Heated debate in recent years around topics like climate change, GM crops and the MMR vaccine reflects this, and BBC reporting has to steer a course through these controversial issues while remaining impartial.
‘The BBC has a well-earned reputation for the quality of its science reporting, but it is also important that we look at it afresh to ensure that it is adhering to the very high standards that licence fee payers expect.’
A scientific expert will be hired to lead the review and it will concentrate on coverage of the issues featured in its news and factual output to see whether they meet the corporation’s Royal Charter and requirement that controversial subjects are covered impartially.
The review will also focus on the way the BBC reports on new technologies including Wi-Fi wireless internet.
The review comes after repeated criticism of the broadcaster’s handling of green issues.
Critics have claimed that it has not fairly represented the views of sceptics who do not agree that climate change is caused by human action, leading to a string of complaints over coverage of the issue.
Lord Monckton, a leading climate change sceptic, has claimed that his views have been deliberately misrepresented by the BBC.
He said he had been made to look like a ‘potty peer’ on a TV programme that ‘was a one-sided polemic for the new religion of global warming’.
Earth: The Climate Wars, which was broadcast on BBC 2 in September 2008, was billed as a definitive guide to the history of global warming, including arguments for and against.
Last night, Lord Monckton, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said: ‘My complaint against the BBC is not about one programme, it is that there has been a relentless institutional prejudice against the very large number of eminent
climate scientists who fundamentally disagree with all the major conclusions that we are told inaccurately is the scientific consensus about climate change. It is high time the BBC examined itself.’[/size][/quote]
