Maybe "scientifically illiterate" journalists should just report both sides and let the readers make up their own minds?

Climate talk aims at skeptic

The film alleged the "real facts" are hidden in a false debate over whether global warming is really happening. The filmmakers offer a variety of reasons why the public’s views don’t match the views of many climatologists, offering critiques of sneaky corporations, cowardly politicians and scientifically illiterate journalists.

Bill Allen, former science journalist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and a member of the CCCC panel, said he identified with several journalists in the film. Allen said journalists, who often feel intimidated when reporting on science, rely on reporting what experts tell them and showing two sides of a story equally. "Those are ideals we fall back on," he said. "That’s what fossil-fuel companies would take advantage of."

Allen said the debate was similar to how tobacco companies took advantage of the media in addressing the health risks of smoking. He charged journalists to look at the "weight of evidence" of each expert before deciding whether to dedicate equal time.