AAAS Panel Reflects Tensions Between Climate Scientists and Journalists | Age of Engagement | Big Think

Reporter Elizabeth Shogren of NPR in Washington, D.C., said she finds it frustrating that coverage of climate change now may be going back several years to again addressing fundamental questions such as whether Earth is warming and whether human activities are contributing to that warming. She said she had thought scientific understanding and informed coverage of the climate issue had gotten beyond those points, basically to explore what steps might be taken to confront challenges of climate change.

But with many of the new congressional members expressing strong reservations, and growing confusion among much of the public at large, she said she feels it necessary to repeatedly address those questions of whether Earth’s atmosphere is warming and whether human activities play a role in that warming. “Back to Square One,” as she put it.

“You haven’t made your case yet” to policymakers and the public generally, she said, directing her comment at the climate science community, represented at this particular AAAS panel by MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel. “What do you want me to do about it?”

That rhetorical remark prompted a challenge from Emanuel. “No. You haven’t,” Emanuel said, prompting a rapid-fire exchange with Shogren, Rosenstiel, and panelist Seth Borenstein, Associated Press science reporter, over the proper roles of the media — and also of climate scientists themselves — in science education.

“If you’re waiting for the press to persuade the public for you, you’re going to lose,” Rosenstiel argued, “because the press doesn’t see that as their role.”