A BBC Panorama documentary about global warming made a number of false claims, an internal investigation by the broadcaster has found.
The program Wild Weather, presented by climate editor Justin Rowlatt, said deaths worldwide were rising due to extreme weather caused by climate change – whereas the opposite is true (pictured: Madagascar rice farm). [bold, links added]
It also claimed Madagascar was on the verge of the first famine caused by climate change – despite other factors being involved.
The program, broadcast last November to coincide with the COP26 climate conference, sparked two complaints investigated by the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU).
Last year, Rowlatt’s sister Cordelia was among a number of Insulate Britain activists arrested for staging a protest at junction 3 of the M25.
Miss Rowlatt, who once appeared on TV advising her brother on how to be more environmentally friendly, pleaded guilty by post at Crawley Magistrates’ Court.
She was fined £300 with £85 court costs and a £34 surcharge for committing a public nuisance on a highway.
The introduction of Wild Weather said ‘the death toll is rising around the world and the forecast is that worse is to come.’
The ECU said this risked giving the impression the rate of deaths from extreme weather-related events was increasing.
In fact, as noted by a recent report from the World Meteorological Organisation, while the number of weather-related disasters – such as floods, storms, and drought – has risen in the past 50 years, the number of deaths caused by them has fallen because of improved early warnings and disaster management.
BBC News said ‘it accepted the wording in the program was not as clear as it should have been and a public acknowledgment was put on the BBC’s Corrections and Clarifications website before the complaint reached the ECU’.
The ECU said this was appropriate but ‘an oversight meant the program was still available on BBC iPlayer without a link or reference to the published correction, and for that reason, the complaint was upheld.’
The ECU also considered the language used in the program about drought. It agreed the evidence showed southern Madagascar had suffered lower-than-average seasonal rainfall in recent years, and that climate change was one factor contributing to famine in the country.
It also noted the reporter’s language mirrored that used by the UN’s World Food Programme.
But the ECU added: ‘The statement that Madagascar was on the brink of the world’s first climate-induced famine was presented without qualification, whereas other evidence available prior to broadcast suggested there were additional factors which made a significant contribution to the shortage of food.
The complaint was therefore upheld.’
Read more at Daily Mail
This is normal for the BBC. Some time ago there was a TV programme called ‘Climate Change- The Facts’ in which every issue was a lie and designed to frighten. Shamefully it teamed up the Holy Saint David Attenborough with The Disgrace to the Profession Mikey Mann of Penn U and author of the Climategate scandal, part of the BBC’s decade long attempt to whitewash it.
Its why the BBC’s “fact checking” is seen as ridiculous. from Attenborough’s walrus stories to hyperbole when it comes to anything weather related, the BBC is a joke.
Here are the facts. We have had a 1 degree rise in the average world wide temp in the last 100 years. HERE IS THE CAUSE OF IT HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH CO2. 100 years ago we had wood shake shingles on the roof. Then the asphalt shingle was invented and immediately went into widespread usage because they were so much cheaper than wood shake shingles which had to be hand split and as such were very expensive. If you take an infrared thermometer and point it at a wood shake shingled roof on a 100 degree day it will register 100 degrees. Take the same thermometer at an asphalt shingle roof it will register 140 to 170 degrees EASILY CAUSING THE 1 DEGREE RISE! Did you honestly tell the 1 degree rise?